October 26, 2016
Page 9
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
photo by m ark W ashington J r ./t he p ortland o bserver
Community residents practice the choreography to Michael Jackson’s Halloween classic “Thriller” as part of Thrill the World, a national annual project that brings people
together to fundraise for organizations seeking to help the LBGTQ community.
Catching the ‘Thriller’ Craze
Michael Jackson hit
recreated for a good cause
C ervante p ope
t he p ortland o bserver
Playing on the haunting popularity of zombies
and Michael Jackson’s highest -selling single and
album, worldwide project Thrill the World will
rise onto the pavement of Irving Park in northeast
Portland this Halloween weekend.
For the last 10 years Thrill the World has
brought thousands of people of all ages and back-
grounds together to recreate the famed choreog-
raphy of Michael Jackson’s 1982 hit “Thriller” to
raise money for organizations benefitting queer
by
and trans people, while offering training for those
who want to learn the popular dance.
Portland’s Thrill the World sees an average of
175 dancers a year and has raised over $4,000 in
donations since it started a decade ago, according
to Alan Silver, a northeast Portland resident and
organizer of the event.
Silver credits Toronto dancer and choreographer
Ines Markeljevich for starting the annual craze
back in 2006, after she organized a large group of
dancers in her hometown. The following year, ac-
cording to Silver, Markeljevich sought to spread
her choreographed project internationally by coor-
dinating a single date and time for willing partici-
pants to join in the movement.
“I’m totally fascinated by the idea that zom-
bies would want to dance,’” says Silver, who has
organized Portland Thrill the World since the
movement’s inception. “I started organizing the
local event, to give me an excuse to learn the
dance.”
While the event is free to watch, dance partici-
pants are asked to make a donation of five dollars
with all contributions going to the Sexual Minority
Youth Resource Center, a drop-in center that pro-
vides resources for queer youth, and Sankofa Col-
lective Northwest, formerly the Black chapter of
Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG),
which serves the needs of local queer and trans
African Americans.
This year’s Thrill the World will take place this
Saturday, Oct. 29 at Irving Park at 3 p.m.