King of Pop still 'thrills' Mexico City fans

[observe punny headline]

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Aug. 31, 2009

More than 50,000 fans have made one message undeniably clear: Mexico City loves Michael Jackson.

Decked out in sparkly gloves, aviator sunglasses, long curly wigs and creepy zombie getups, the virtual mob of people swarmed the historical center's Monument of the Revolution on Saturday in an effort to break the world record for most people dancing to "Thriller" at the same time in one place.

Javier Hidalgo, a city official and event organizer, told The News that around 15,000 people in three dance sessions emulated choreography from the legendary 1983 video, although he estimated over 12,000 participants in earlier reports.

Hidalgo said around 50,000 people in total came out to see the Aug. 29 spectacle, which would have been the King of Pop's 51st birthday.

"This city, despite its problems, is alive," he said. "It is full of life."

"We undoubtedly broke this record," he added, noting that the enormous crowd would make it difficult to determine an official count.

The Guinness Book of World Records this week will decide if Mexico City did indeed shatter the previous count.

The current record is held by a group of 242 College of William & Mary students who in May simultaneously danced the "Thriller" routine in Williamsburg, Va., according to Associated Press reports.

Hidalgo said the idea in Mexico City surged about six weeks following Michael Jackson's June 25 death, when a group of friends created a Facebook event page and spread the word. The "Thriller" concept took on a snowball effect, amassing around 3,000 participants before the group asked the city for organizational help. A week before the show, more than 10,000 people had signed up to participate in the dance routine.

"Thriller" fan Orlando Bautista Ramirz said he had practiced Michael Jackson's choreography for a month before last weekend's dance-off. Donning a sweat-stained pink oxford shirt, a thin black tie and a black fedora, he added that he had been learning steps like the "moonwalk" for the past three years.

"His dancing, his music and his singing, all of that to me makes him the King of Pop," he said after the massive show.

Local actor Poncho Borbolla said he had been instructing choreography classes all throughout August, an idea that came about following an "in memoriam" party he threw with his friends.

"I've been a huge fan of Michael Jackson for many years, and as a fan, I'm very excited to see that people still like him" despite the singer's highly publicized problems, he said.

The Saturday routine, however, was complicated by the sheer number of Mexico City residents out see the show.

Hidalgo said that the event was initially scheduled to start at 7 p.m., with practice sessions beginning at 4 p.m. But with 20,000 people already present by the early afternoon, organizers were forced to start the dance - led by local impersonator "Héctor Jackson" - sooner than planned to disperse the growing crowd.

Tania López Pérez, covered in green face paint, fake blood and wearing a shredded T-shirt, said she was unable to pass through security gates when she arrived at the monument just before 7 p.m.

But the unexpected time change didn't put out the "Thriller" flame.

After the event, four-year-olds in tuxedo pants and glittering shirts spun carefully executed circles in a nearby parking lot. And crossing the Insurgentes thoroughfare on the way out of the crowd, a group of zombies crept their way across the street and onto the Metrobus platform.