By Meghan Alfano
Daily Titan Asst. News Editor

In the front row, dancer Chris Clark, right, leads others in a practice run before the live world-wide reenactment of the "Thriller" music video. Photo by Todd Barnes.

Zombies and Michael Jackson fans alike gathered to celebrate “the funk of forty-thousand years” at the American Sports Center in Anaheim Saturday.

It wasn’t close to midnight and they weren’t under the moonlight, but in an attempt to break the Record Holder’s Republic and World Records Academy’s “Largest, Simultaneous ‘Thriller’ Dance” record. Thrill the World OC attracted 230 people of all ages who came together dressed in their best monster attire to partake in Jackson’s iconic dance.

In the beginning, Oct. 26, 2006, “Thrill Toronto” set the first Guinness record for having the largest simultaneous “Thriller” dance in one area, with 62 people participating. The event was started by Ines Markeljevic.

In 2007, the event became world-wide. Markeljevic traveled around the world to teach people the dance, and a DVD was released to enable prospective participants to learn it in the comfort of their own home.

In October of that year, 1,722 people in 80 cities from 17 different countries set the record for the largest simultaneous “Thriller” dance in more than one location. In 2008, the 25th anniversary of the “Thriller” video, 4,179 zombies thrilled the world.

“Thrill the World OC” was one of the original groups that started in the world-wide project in 2007. Tom Nguyen, who has organized the event the past couple of years, said he discovered Thrill the World while looking on YouTube.com for instructional videos on how to do the “Thriller” dance.

“I thought this was something that should come to Orange County,” Nguyen, who is from Irvine, said.
The first event was held at the Atomic Ballroom in Irvine.

Jeremy Heckman, an independent dance instructor from Westminster, has been helping teach the dance since the first year, and said that the event is about bringing the joy of dance and just having fun.

“Michael Jackson is the King of Pop, and everyone knows him and his dance,” Heckman said. “I can’t explain why I get so much pleasure out of doing it, I just like doing it.”

Although this year’s numbers were not yet released at press time, Thrill the World expected to draw a crowd of 270,000 people to the world-wide event, with 34 nations and 215 cities registered to dance this year on Oct. 24 and 25 (the day depends on each city’s time zone, as the event is simultaneous).

Thrill the World OC has also seen exponential growth. The previous year drew 64 people, and this year 230 people danced, nearly tripling the event in size.

The event’s manager Jeff Allen said that he felt the growth was largely in part due to Jackson’s death, as it made him relevant again.

“People are looking into his music and dance again,” he said. “He had the biggest impact on dance and music in the century, and in his death, people are starting to realize that again.”

“His death was sad,” said Denise McEuen of Lake Forest. “He died too young, too soon but he left us with a lot of really great music.”

Aaron Al-Imam, 26, right, gets into his role at the “Thrill the World” event in Anaheim on Saturday, Oct. 24. People all over the world danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at the exact same moment. Photo by Todd Barnes.

McEuen attended the event for the first time this year with children Katie McEuen, Rachel McEuen and Adam Mikolajczyk after hearing about it through the Atomic Ballroom, where they regularly attend classes. They said they enjoyed it because it was a fun way to exercise.

Some attended the event not only in the spirit of Michael Jackson, but also in the spirit of a friend.
Valarie Cardinal of Costa Mesa has attended the event every year because of her love of dance, but was unable to attend this year because of her recent battle with lung cancer.

In her spirit, a group of her friends came together to take part in the event of which Cardinal is so passionate. All who were there dancing for Cardinal wore pink tulle to signify her battle with cancer.

Cardinal contracted lymphoma in 2003, and after it went into remission, her doctors said it may come back. It returned in the form of lung cancer, but friends say that Cardinal is strong and believe she will beat it.

Thrill the World OC also supports their own cause. In coordination with the 24 Hour Cancer Dance-A-Thon, which takes place every year at the Atomic Ballroom. They take donations during the event and online for the City of Hope.

“There are a lot of different purposes for the event, but the main one is just to get people to dance,” Allen said.

Despite a few glitches in the system (the group could not connect to the conference call from Markeljevic and had a problem with the sound in the beginning of their performance) and distractions from basketball games going on right beside the dance, the event went on as planned and the crowd cheered as the zombie dancers completed the six minute routine.

Nguyen added that what made the event so successful was simply the impact it has on those who participate.

“Look around. You see people of all ages enjoying the dance,” he said. “People who have never danced before have come up to me and told me that they began to take dance lessons because they loved it so much.”

Last year, Nguyen said that participants who were affected by the fires came to him and told him that the event was a good way for them to get their minds off of what was going on around them.

“It’s just a really fun event,” said zombie bride Laura Greenlumd of Redondo Beach, who has participated in the event the past three years. “There’s something exciting about doing a routine, and the choreography is really easy to do. It’s just a really neat thing to be a part of.”