Valley group gets set to Thrill the World

By Chelsea Miller

TheNewsOutlet.org

A woman straightens the shelves of Petco in Boardman, preparing for the end of her shift.

The aisles are deserted of customers. The only sound comes from a back room at the end of a long hallway.

Inside, 11 women line up and step in succession. An instructional video blares as they try to follow what’s on the screen.

The women, in two lines, lurch back and forth, hands in a clawlike gesture. They raise their hands and feet like puppets on a string.

“One, two, three ... one, two, three” the video counts as they imitate one of the most well-known dances in the world: Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

The women are gathered to practice for Thrill the World, a dance tribute to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” of world-record proportions. The day of the event is Saturday.

According to www.Thrilltheworld.com, the Thrill the World campaign began in 2006 in Toronto, Canada, with only 62 participants. After Jackson’s death in June 2009, a new interest was sparked in the event — setting a world record with 22,571 people from 33 nations simultaneously performing “Thriller.”

Those who participate are given set times to perform the dance and also must have the event videotaped and pictures uploaded. If not, those involved will not be counted. The hope for those participating is that it will be counted in Guinness World Records this year.

The Thrill the World campaign also is used to raise money for the charity of the organizer’s choice; $85,000 was raised last year for 80 charities.

Paulina McCallum, founder of Canine Crusaders, dedicated to saving dogs at the pound, decided to organize a Valley event to help raise money for her charity.

McCallum and her friends, the majority age 30 to 40, remember the 1980s well and the glory days of Michael Jackson.

Her friend Brenda Pringle said that listening to the music of Jackson brings back a lot of memories.

“When MTV started showing Michael Jackson videos, it was so intriguing because he used to do everything so different, and there was a lot of dance moves involved, which showed he was really a versatile musician to sing and dance and do all of that at the same time,” she said.

For Pringle, it will be the first time performing a dance in more than 15 years. As one of the women who have an actual dance background, Pringle studied jazz for 12 years. Her dance background, she said, helps a little to learn the dance.

“It probably would have been easier years ago, but it’s not that bad,” she said, laughing. “It’s easy to do with repetition ... but I do practice at home and at my lunch break. ... It’s fun.”

Lily Hockenberry, 14, a student at Boardman High School and member of a local dance troupe, is the youngest participant. “Yeah, I kind of love Michael Jackson. I have a few of his songs and we danced to it last year, so I’m kind of used to it,” she said.

McCallum has recruited 20 people so far to learn the dance after lowering the age restriction to 10 and up, but said she isn’t sure how many will stick with the dance until the end. She hopes to recruit more before Saturday.

The NewsOutlet is a joint media venture by student and professional journalists and is a collaboration of Youngstown State University, WYSU radio and The Vindicator.