A Literary Life

By Kate Jonuska

In 2008, 4,179 people in 10 countries costumed themselves as the undead and simultaneously performed the choreography from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video as part of the Guinness World Record-winning Thrill the World campaign. This year, Colorado Springs is adding a few more zombies to that total with a Thrill the World event on Saturday hosted by burlesque dance troupe Peaks and Pasties.

“It’s so fun to be able to teach people who are as nervous as I was when I first started dancing,” says Peak and Pasties dancer Kami Sutra, who helped lead a rehearsal attended by about 20 people earlier this week. She says that participants enjoy mimicking the Michael Jackson crotch grab the most out of all the dance moves, which also include the zombie march and menacing claw hands. “Everyone gets a huge kick out of it. No one in the group is judgmental. Everyone is really supportive of each other.”

Released in 1983, the 14-minute “Thriller” production is arguably the most popular music video of all time, a horror film homage in which a zombified Jackson dances with the undead, and “Thriller” has recently surged back to the surface of popular consciousness. Thrill the World began in 2006, for instance, videos of convicts dancing “Thriller” have been viral on the Internet, and Michael Jackson’s death earlier this year caused many media organizations to rebroadcast the video.

“It’s really funny. When you start teaching the dance to people, we find that they already know a couple eight counts without consciously knowing they did. People know those moves,” says Spitfire, who believes Michael Jackson and his dancing are woven into our culture. “I think people are drawn to Michael Jackson by his crazy sense of style, his dance moves and choreography, and just the way he entertained.”

CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in The Gazette on Oct. 22, 2009.