Dancin' in the streets

The King of Pop lives on, or, if his fans are any indication, he is at least undead.

More than a year after Michael Jackson's death, fans took the streets of Prague Aug. 28, marching and dancing their way, all the while dressed as zombies resembling those from Jackson's legendary "Thriller" music video.

The event commemorated what would have been Jackson's 52nd birthday Aug. 29.

"We want to show not only the Czech Republic how many fans Michael Jackson has here, what he means to us, that we are able to learn his dance and get people dancing," said Anastasija Frolová, manager of the Czech Michael Jackson Fan Club.

The Aug. 28 event was a trial run for an attempt next year to break the world record for the largest group of people uniformly dancing to the song "Thriller." The record of 13,957 people was set in Mexico City earlier this year.

"We strongly hope that even a country this small can succeed in breaking this record," Frolová said.

Eva Kubištová, another of the event organizers, said that since last year, dancers have been working on their skills either by watching an instructive video or attending two-hour practices that took place at least once a week in 25 cities across the country.

"Michael was an inspiration to people, dancers and musicians based on his personality and his music," Kubištová said.

The Aug. 28 event drew dancers and fans from Poland, the United Kingdom, Slovakia and elsewhere.

Alphonse Mboussa, a 9-year-old Jackson impersonator, recalled the King of Pop as "a nice person who donated a lot of money to children."

The first in a series of dances began at 2:15 p.m. on Palackého náměstí. Participants then marched through the city, periodically stopping to dance at several locations with the final dance on Hradčanské náměstí. The celebration continued late into the night at the club SaSaZu.

Caroline Korsawe can be reached at
features@praguepost.com