 "Photo: Josh Small")
On an unusually warm Halloween night in Durham, the spirit of Michael Jackson was present at UNH as students danced to “Thriller” on the Whittemore Center field.
“Thrill UNH” took place at 9:30 p.m. on memorial field and was organized by the UNH Residence Hall Association (RHA), which is comprised of representatives from each dorm.
“We decided to do our own version of ‘Thrill the World’ and call it ‘Thrill UNH,’” said RHA member Kimberly Deane.
“Thrill the World” is an annual worldwide event where people from every city, state, and country dance to “Thriller” at the same time. This year, the event took place on Sunday, Oct. 25.
The UNH RHA put a lot of time into preparing for “Thrill UNH”.
“We ordered [the] ‘Thrill the World’ DVD and some dorms have hosted ‘Thriller’ socials,” Hunter Hall Representative Bethany Jones said.
“Thriller” socials took place in residential buildings and involved teaching students the dance moves to “Thriller”.
There was a crowd of students on the field doing the dance, as well as a crowd of people standing on the sidewalk, leaning over the stonewall to watch the 10 minute performance.
“We had a pretty good turnout, about 50 to 60, and at least that many people watching,” RHA member Julia Pond said.
For UNH’s version of Thriller, no one wore a red jacket covered in zippers, and only a few zombies could be seen.
Instead, there was a frog, an Aladdin, a pirate, and even a banana roaming around the field. The show even attracted the attention of a Durham Police officer as he observed and snapped pictures. Students were at different skill levels, and some did not even know the dance at all before taking part.
“I don’t know ‘Thriller’ – it sounded crazy,” sophomore Cathie Plante said.
Other participants had a more general reason for dancing under the bright lights and reenacting the moves of the “King of Pop”.
“We thought it would be fun,” sophomore Renee Malionek said.
The people watching also had different reasons for catching the show.
“I figured I’d come here and see how it’s going,” Graduate student Dan Cornwell said.
For the people that were not able to see the dance live, a video and pictures will be available on Facebook in the near future. “Thrill UNH” happened three days after the release of the Michael Jackson movie “This Is It” on Oct. 28.
The UNH RHA is not involved with Residential Advisors and is a new organization. They are currently in the stages of planning a holiday dance.
“We thought we would really get our name out,” Jones said. “A lot of people I know like the ‘Thriller’ dance, and thought it would be fun.”
The gathering of people watching and involved in the production have inspired the UNH RHA members to do “Thrill UNH” again.
“Every Halloween we’ll do this,” Jones said.
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