The Zombie Thriller Dance at the Ajijic Plaza

The annual Thrill the World Zombie Dance took place on Saturday, October 27th, 2012. This is an international event to raise money for charities. It was inspired by Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video. Thrill the World is an allusion to his song title, Heal the World. People from all over the world danced to his Thriller song at the same time.

Zombie coming out of the Bathroom
Zombie coming out of the Bathroom

If you had been at the Ajijic Plaza an hour before the two o’clock scheduled event, you might have run into zombies everywhere. I had a scare when I opened the bathroom door to find myself face-to-face with this zombie. Then she said my name and I realized that I was looking at my dear friend, Carolina. What a surprise for me. I hope her boyfriend didn’t see her in that costume.

I decided to wait on the park bench for awhile and I ran into another zombie. There was no escaping them.

Zombie on the Park Bench
Zombie on the Park Bench

Some zombies came already in costume. Others went to the back room behind the Jardin Restaurant and got their makeup put on by other volunteers.  There was a lot of excitement in the air as people tried out their scariest faces on each other. Both adults and children participated. They had been practicing the dance steps for several weeks. There were over forty different steps involved in the dance.

The Makeup room
The Makeup room

I checked online for information about this event. If you would like to see some videos from different countries, look on you tube under Thriller Dance or Thrill the World. You can also see photos of it on Facebook. This event has caught on quickly.

Putting on the face makeup
Putting on the face makeup

These two little girls below were having a lot of fun although they tried to put on their scariest faces for the photo.

Two scary zombie girls
Two scary zombie girls

My friend Inez is in the photo below.  Even though she recently had problems with her foot, she wasn’t about to miss all the fun of dancing in this event.

Zombie woman
Zombie woman

Outside of the makeup room, a photographer was recording the event by taking portraits of the participants. It would later be part of a CD of the activities and the dance.

Zombie getting her picture taken
Zombie getting her picture taken

Below is one of the youngest zombie dancers. She tried to look scary but she could never pull it off. She was too adorable.

Little girl zombie getting her picture taken
Little girl zombie getting her picture taken

 

Little girl zombie
Little girl zombie

People had made pledges to their favorite zombies and the money went to the local Red Cross. Below Charlie Klestadt, one of the organizers, is talking to his zombie helper.

Charlie Klestadt and zombie friend
Charlie Klastadt and zombie friend

Charlie’s wife, Anne is also involved with the Red Cross. She spent time asking for more pledges from people in the plaza.

Anne Klestadt
Anne Klestadt

The first Thrill the World zombie dance was held in a community hall in Canada in 2006. Sixty two zombies participated and it set a Guinness World Record for the Largest Thriller dance in one location. It was followed by another event, Thrill Toronto in 2007. It was also an international event in which 1,722 people in 80 cities in 17 different countries participated. This idea had snowballed into something very large.

Beginning of the Zombie dance
Beginning of the Zombie dance

In 2008 the event coincided with the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. 4,179 people danced in this event in 13 different countries.

Zombies on the ground
Zombies on the ground

In 2009, 22,923 people danced in the event in 264 cities and 33 countries, setting a world record and raising 100,000 in the United States for eighty different charities.

Dancing Zombies
Dancing Zombies

In 2010, 13,042 people danced in 221 events around the world. You can see by these numbers that each year more people are caught up in the excitement and want to be part of it.  In 2011 the money from the event was given to the Van earthquake fund.

Dancing Zombies
Dancing Zombies

I don’t know if the numbers are in yet for this year’s events but I am guessing that many more people joined in to have fun and raise money for charities.

Dancing Zombies
Dancing Zombies

Few people would doubt that Michael Jackson had a deeply troubled life but if he could see what his song has inspired, I am guessing he would be be resting in peace.

Dancing Zombies
Dancing Zombies

I don’t know how many people participated in the Ajijic event. I hope they raised a lot of money for the local Red Cross.

Dancing Zombies
Dancing Zombies

I heard that there was a party after the dance for the participants. Since I was just an onlooker, I went on home. I am looking forward to next year’s dance. Maybe I will volunteer to be one of the dancers.

Zombies going home
Zombies going home

I just received an e mail from my zombie friend  Carolina. She wrote that this event raised over 95,000 pesos for the local Red Cross.

Join The Discussion

2 thoughts on “The Zombie Thriller Dance at the Ajijic Plaza”

  • oscar hugo perez

    you record a video? Could you give me a link? please!
    I love your site and your blog

    I was born and live in Ajijic !!!!
    my family is here, in this town, I am 4 Generation
    I send a special greeting to you and all our friends strangers
    🙂
    ,,,,,, I have 4 spaces and over 4,000 fb friends
    and also are your space!!
    🙂
    oscar hugo perez

    Reply
    • Z-Access Admin

      HI Hugo,

      Thanks for your comment, we are glad you like our site and blog. We created a video about Ajijic, it is only a minute long but shows all the highlights, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ6z2_CJbqw

      Reply

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