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Local music fans part of worldwide 'Thriller' record bid

Jim Noelker/Staff photographer Zombies emerge from the zombie sleep to dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on Thursday night, Oct. 22, at the Yellow Springs Senior Center. The dancers are rehearsing to take part in a worldwide attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous dance. The attempt will happen in Yellow Springs at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the John Bryan Community Center.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: 'Thriller' world record rehearsal

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By Christopher Magan, Staff Writer Updated 11:23 PM Thursday, October 22, 2009

YELLOW SPRINGS — Wedding parties do it for laughs; Filipino inmates mesmerized millions of YouTube users with their rendition, and now Miami Valley residents will help Thrill the World as a tribute to the fallen King of Pop.

Judith Wolert-Maldonado, a local photographer and DJ, hopes 100 people will come to the John Bryan Community Center, 100 Dayton St., on Saturday, Oct. 24, as part of a worldwide, simultaneous dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

“People seem to really enjoy dancing in groups,” Wolert-Maldonado said. “It can be pretty spectacular to see. I thought the Miami Valley would be the perfect place to do this.”

Local dancers and music enthusiasts are ready to don zombie gear and lurch and strut along with as many as 270,000 people Saturday, promptly at 8:30 p.m., according to the event’s Web site. Dancers from Australia to Wales will receive instructions via worldwide conference call.

“The most important thing is to have fun,” Wolert-Maldonado said.

One of those people is Susan Gartner, a Yellow Springs resident, who is happy to learn a local dance was being organized. “I take dance classes at the Xenia YMCA. I’m a Zumba fan. I think, with good instruction, I will be able to do this.”

Gartner is a Jackson fan and thinks the worldwide dance sounds like fun. “It really spoke to me about what our town can come up with,” Gartner said. “This is so Yellow Springs.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2342 or cmagan@DaytonDailyNews.com.