By Emily GlazerThe Daily Northwestern
It’s not Halloween, but 78 Northwestern students decked out in ragged clothing, zombie makeup and fake blood gathered at the Sports Pavilion and Aquatics Center basketball courts Wednesday afternoon with one goal: to break a world record.
Dance Marathon set the new world record for the largest number of people performing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance as part of DM’s “30 Before 30” kick-off events.
The dancers, ranging from freshmen to seniors, learned the two-and-a-half minute routine Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon. The previous record,62 people, was set in Canada in October.
“We knew we could slash the record,” said Krysta Kauble, DM’s media and public relations co-chairwoman.
The Communication junior, along with Kunal Kadakia, the other media and public relations co-chairman, decided to organize the dance to spread the word about DM.
“‘Thriller’ is a song that’s played all the time – students got so into it and were excited,” said Kadakia, a Communication senior.
While they prepared for the dance, dancers could be heard discussing their unusual appearances.
“Can I bleed from the eye?” one student asked. Another student wanted to cut up her shirt “like (in) ‘Mean Girls.'”
The dance would not have been possible without a teacher. Mark Underhill, a Communication sophomore, led the rehearsals and taught students the dance.
Underhill, who is also a Project Wildcat counselor, said he learned the dance so he could entertain freshmen PWild participants upon their arrival at NU in the fall.
Kauble heard of his expertise through a friend and said Underhill was excited to help DM.
“He’s a ‘Thriller’ expert and absolutely phenomenal,” she said.
Underhill said it was fun to teach everyone and that many students “got into it.”
He led two rehearsals, one Tuesday night for an hour and a half and another Wednesday afternoon before crews from WGN, FOX and NBC covered the event.
He said he was impressed with how quickly participants learned the dance.
“I didn’t even have to count the final time,” he said.
Zach Samson, a Medill senior, said he thought the dance didn’t take very long to learn.
“In an hour and a half we powered through it,” Samson said. “And it’s not tuned-down – it’s the real (‘Thriller’) dance.”
Medill senior Sirena Rubinoff said she thought the dance went well.
“It was a great way to raise awareness for DM,” she said.
Kauble and Kadakia said they researched the Web site of world records and found that the “Thriller” dance was a category. They thought breaking a world record would raise awareness of DM.
Samson, the food co-chairman for DM and editor of Syllabus, also helped organize DM’s World Food Festival at Parkes Hall on Wednesday night.
Eight organizations, including the Taiwanese American Students Club and Muslim-cultural Students Association, agreed to donate food or help DM solicit donations from restaurants.
With less than one month left before the 30-hour marathon, DM has a number of events planned, including a Battle of the Bands on Feb. 15 and an Iron Chef competition on Feb. 19.
A full calender of events is available at www.nudm.org/calendar.html.
Reach Emily Glazer at [email protected].
