Sikeston women team up to have fun, raise money with "Thrill the World"

It's going to be a thriller night Oct. 23 in Sikeston, Mo., when ghouls and zombies put on their dancing shoes to participate in a worldwide event.

For the second year in a row, two Sikeston women are organizing a local entry in the "Thrill the World" project, an event that combines charity and with a global, simultaneous performance of the dance from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video.

Kris Greene and Melissa Seiler, both of Sikeston, each organized dances in 2009 and paired up to do it again this year. Greene found out about "Thrill the World" when surfing the Web to learn the dance herself.

"I always thought it was neat when people did it at parties," she said.

Once Greene found information about the global dance, she began contacting various people in the community to organize "Thill the World -- Sikeston." Greene contacted Seiler, who owns Melissa's School of the Performing Arts.

"Anything to do with dancing is interesting to me," Seiler said.

The two women couldn't work together last year but have partnered for the 2010 event.

In 2009, Greene and her team chose the Southeast Missouri Food Bank as their charity, using a canned food item as the registration fee.

"It was close to Thanksgiving, and I thought food would be a really good way to give back to the community," Greene said.

Seiler and her dancers chose to give the money they raised to the Kenny Rogers Children's Center. One of the employees at the dance school was a patient at the hospital as a child. Seiler said that brought the cause home for her and her dancers.

"It is nice to give to a charity that the benefit can be seen locally," she said.

This year, in addition to uniting to teach the dance, Seiler and Green have decided to combine their charitable efforts as well, donating to the food bank and the Kenny Rogers center.

Greene will teach the dance from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursdays at the YMCA in Sikeston, and Seiler will focus on showing the moves to her students, their parents and friends. The dance will also be taught the night of the charity performance, one hour before it is presented.

Both women said they were surprised at the community's response.

Between the two teams last year, there were about 115 dancers. Everyone is encouraged to participate. No dance ability or experience required.

And sometimes Seiler said, the inexperience can pay off.

"It is good that they are supposed to be zombies," she said. "Zombies are kind of supposed to be sloppy."

Some of the participants take the zombie aspect to the extreme, dressing in character or in Jackson costumes.

Sikeston resident Marilyn Pullen danced in Greene's event last year with her son, who donned a replica of the classic red leather jacket worn by Jackson in the "Thriller" video. A zombie bride and groom also joined the festivities with Greene last year.

As for Seiler, she offered zombie face painting before her 80-some dancers took their places. The face painting will be available again this year with proceeds going toward charity.

According to the event's website, thrilltheworld.com, "Thrill the World" began in Canada in 2006 when event founder Ines Markeljevic organized "The World's Largest Thriller Dance," in a successful attempt at a Guinness World Record.

Later that year, Markeljevic began work on "Thrill the World," traveling the globe teaching the dance. The first "Thrill the World" was held Oct. 27 and 28, 2007, with 1,722 people in 52 cities on five continents dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" at exactly the same time.

Festivities for the 2010 "Thrill the World -- Sikeston" will begin with face painting at 4 p.m Oct. 23 at the YMCA in Sikeston. There will be a practice 5 p.m. followed by the performance at 6. There will be a celebration after the performance. For more information about "Thrill the World -- Sikeston," visit sikestonttw.com