Hey Folks, MJ here. It’s been a hot minute since you’ve seen a byline other than mine attached to a column on Popblerd, but a young writer named Sarah Paolantonio came to me with a pitch that was too good to resist. Check out her story below, and if you’re in a participating city, get your boogie on to celebrate Halloween and honor Michael’s memory.
CONEY ISLAND – You approach the 10th Street Pavilion. “Beat It” is playing at full volume. A few people are gathered around a DJ on the boardwalk. It’s 4pm, a sunny Saturday – the last weekend Coney Island is open for business for the season. A crowd of people is dancing, and as you get closer, you recognize the “Thriller” dance moves.
The DJ speakers face the New York Aquarium mural on the boardwalk and every “Beat It” beat reverberates against the cement. “She’s not your lover” once, and then again a second later. Clouds are in that perfect puffy shape, the sky couldn’t be bluer, and Halloween is looming just over the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s the sixth annual Thrill The World NYC and this year 200 cities all over the world are participating in a synchronized “Thriller” dance at 6p.m.
Thirty-one years ago, “Thriller” raised the bar for music videos. It was the first to expand a song’s narrative to tell a longer story. It is quintessential Michael Jackson – marrying perfect pop music and make believe. The video is still original, innovative, and timeless today. (In 2009, it was the first music video inducted into the Library Of Congress.)
Thrill The World started in Canada by Ines Markelle in 2008. A year later, Amanda Anderson brought Thrill The World to New York City. That same year, thirty-two different countries, over 22,000 zombie dancers, raised over $85,000 for 80 different charities and broke a record for largest simultaneous group dance.
As I stood watching a group of seasoned “Thriller” dancers pop and lock, it satisfied the Thriller superfan in me. I jumped in to learn the dance, my ultimate dream party trick, but stepped back to watch the devoted. A few members of the crowd were wearing one white, sequined glove. One woman’s face was painted as a sugar skull, another was dressed as a cat, and many dancers wore ripped pants or tights. Some people weren’t dressed up at all and others had gone above and beyond with bloodstains and color contacts. I watched the crowd rehearse enough to find my favorites dancers.
There was a woman towards the middle of the group who looked like a calmer Fran Lebowitz. She had longer hair, dark sunglasses, and was wearing a big down coat. She mouthed along to every count of eight. Her moves were precise. Another woman was in white face paint, a blonde wig, and a rumpled Victorian dress. The instructor at the front was in jeans and wore a red leather jacket, just like Michael Jackson’s. But my favorite dancer was a woman wearing the foam Statue of Liberty crown, a flowing matching green ragged dress with some scars in white and red on her face and arms. Her zombie stares were the most demented, her moves the most memorable.
Every dancer paid five dollars to participate in the synchronized dance.
I stood there and felt my smile grow wider, my feet tapping, and my mouth moving along to Vincent Price’s monolog. I thought about how proud MJ would be to see his art bringing people together and benefitting communities all over the world, proving that No Mere Mortal Can Resist The Evil Of The Thriller.
More information about Thrill The World NYC can be found here.