The dead swarm the world’s cities
On Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, people around the world—from Turkey to Canada—donned costumes of the dead and united to take part in the Thriller dance and break the previous record for the simultaneous performance of it. Hours after midnight on Saturday, the dead attacked the Gaurin farming village in France. More than 700 people in this quiet, peaceful area stood up to dance Thriller to take part in honoring Michael Jackson and to improve the world record for the Thriller dance.
At the same time, in other cities around the world—including Beijing, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sydney, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur—people lined up to dance in costumes torn and soaked in fake blood, wearing scary masks and makeup that made them look like the dead rising from the ground in the revolutionary Thriller clip.
The official start time for the event was announced as 3:00 a.m. on Sunday Greenwich Mean Time. People gathered at the Gaurin village performance site at 2:30 a.m. The organizer of the Gaurin event said the number of participants exceeded their expectations. They want to repeat this success next year. Many of the people who came to the event saw it as a farewell to Michael.
19-year-old Ana says she considers participating in the Thriller dance a tribute to him because she couldn’t go to Michael’s concert.
7-year-old Matty, wearing a Billie Jean dance outfit (Billie Jean—the super-famous Michael song), says she came for fun and when she dances she thinks she is Michael Jackson.
Some also hope that participating in this global dance will change the traditional idea that their village is a boring place where nothing ever happens.
It’s been reported that at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in Los Angeles, more than three thousand people gathered to dance Thriller. The event organizer says they are thanking Michael for his gifts by holding this dance.
The global Thriller dance event has been held every year since 2006, and it’s unlikely that with repetition it won’t someday become a global tradition—something like a Halloween celebration, or at least part of it.
The event grew from 62 participants in 2006 to 4,719 people in 2008. In the 2008 event, held on October 25, people in 72 cities across 10 countries—Australia, Canada, the UK, Germany, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Scotland, the United States, and Wales—stood up and danced simultaneously, breaking the 2007 record. On October 27 and 28, 2007, 1,722 people from 52 cities around the world participated in the Thriller dance.
On Michael’s birthday, in Mexico City, about 13.5 thousand people danced Thriller together and recorded their achievement in the Guinness Book of Records.
The website thrilltheworld.com, which was set up in previous years to cover news about this global event, says that this year 300 dance events were held around the world over Saturday and Sunday. It seems that the 2009 Thriller dance event was actually a big celebration honoring Michael Jackson.
But why is Thriller so important?
In 1982, an album with this title by Michael Jackson was released and brought renewed momentum back to the dying music record industry. People made peace with music stores, and a global competition began to buy Thriller records. At the time of its release, the album sold 1 million copies every week. So far, worldwide sales of Thriller have exceeded 140 million copies, and it is recognized as the best-selling music album of the known era.
All the songs on this album were successful in winning over listeners. But “Thriller,” “Beat It,” and “Billie Jean” are three of the most famous tracks, and the display of their music videos on MTV turned Michael into the first Black artist to enter that network. “Billie Jean” broke down racial barriers, and “Thriller” broke down barriers in the music industry. In this way, Thriller introduced the world to the concept of the “music video” as a phenomenon.
Quincy Jones, the producer of the Thriller album alongside Michael, considers the global Thriller dance event as proof that the album’s popularity and influence continue.
Source: eMJey / Brand X / thrilltheworld / AP