Consider Durban Thrilled

God, that was fun. We looked totally awesome - so much fake blood!

Mark's video on youtube.....



Thanks to all the amazing zombies for your enthusiasm and reminding me a little of home. You guys were so much fun to teach and dance with, I hope to see you around Durban in the months to come.

Happy Halloween!
aleks

While I wait for the pics and the videos

Well guys, an event that looked as dead as a doornail mere hours earlier rose up like a zombie itself and took on a new life of its own, right through to sponsorship photoshoots and dancing with mascots.

Because Zombies never say die.

"Aleks, that's Goonies never say die."
"Whatever, I am trying to be poignant here."

On right: the sign I posted at People's Park to redirect our public. Quality signage befitting an event with thousands of dancers, don't you think?

Thrill Day has come

There's nothing crazier than zombie dancing... except maybe organizing a zombie dance in just over a week!

There may only be 15 of us dancing today, but Gabby, Shabnam, and I consider this a fun success. Not only is this the first time Durban has been involved with Thrill The World, but we are the only African city participating. The 15 of us will represent the continent today and the TTW organizers are "thrilled" that the only continent not dancing Thriller at Thrill Time is Antarctica.

The other zombies thrilling with us today will be from:
Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, England, Finland, France, French Guyana, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America.

I am so happy that people took an interest in this and I hope everyone has tons of fun today. And trust me, the more you dance it, the more fun it gets. So I really hope people get together again next year to Thrill Durban - I'll be thinking of you guys when I'm back in Vancouver for TTW 2011.

Cheers,
Aleksandra

The Thrill is On

At the eleventh hour, uShaka Marine World have generously offered us a spot outside the sunken ship at Marina 5.

To be honest, I haven't even been to uShaka yet since I got here, but "sunken ship"? That sounds pretty darn cool!

Thank you to Gabby and uShaka for organizing this.
Thanks to the folk at Vacca Matta for putting up with miscommunications and slow stop-start music as they hosted us for 3 days straight.
Thanks to the people at my work who got dragged into all of this.

And most of all, thanks to the dancers who have been awesome learning a four-hour routine in under two! I hope you all have tons of zombie fun tomorrow!

I created a monster

Well, it seems the media loves Thriller.

A little too much.

An erroneous advert on East Coast Radio today (hundreds of thousands of dancers in Durban??) has made for a morning of stressful phone calls and plan-making. But sadly, the po-po have shut us down and we are no longer allowed to dance on the Stadium grounds for logistical security concerns.

Dancers, we will still dance for the Thrill the World event but this will now likely be a private function. I will contact you all with the new location.

I truly regret how out of hand this little event has gone. Who knew Durban was so interested in dancing zombies?

Crunch Time!

Awesome rehearsal today, zombies! It's an intense few hours but worth it - you guys looked fantastic by the end of the session. *tears of joy!*

Teaching this dance in 2 hours is quite the crash course, so I will be starting promptly at 5pm tomorrow. Come with your concentration caps on, and warning: it gets pretty hot on that dance floor at Vacca Matta!

Rave from the Grave...

Yes, that is me on the cover of The Mercury.

Unfortunately, the editors edited out the bit about dance rehearsals, but we might now have a larger audience than I anticipated...

Note that I managed to put together that whole outfit from one quick lunch-time trip to the hospice shop and the SPAR. Hygiene powder goes a long way to looking undead.

See you all at rehearsals today, tomorrow, and Saturday morning!

Cheers,
Aleksandra (SA's Canadian Thriller Ambassador)

The Mercury, 21 Oct 2010. Page 3

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The Mercury
21 Oct 2010

REHEARSAL VENUE AND TIMES!

We have a rehearsal venue!

Cafe Vacca Matta at Suncoast Casino is kindly offering their space for rehearsals. Thank you!

Rehearsal A: Wednesday October 20th, 5 - 7:30pm.
Rehearsal B: Thursday October 21st, 5 - 7:30pm.
Rehearsal C: Friday October 22nd, 5 - 7pm.

There may or may not be a daily paper at Wednesday's rehearsal to take photos for a story...

Address:
Vacca Matta
Shop U4, Suncoast Casino
Battery Beach Road

Can't wait to meet all you Thriller fans!

Rehearsal Times

Well well.

Securing practice space has been harder than I thought. Apologies for the information delay, folks!

(Seriously, if anyone has a very large room at their disposal, PLEASE let me know.)

But there WILL be Thriller rehearsals (Location TBA) at the following times:
Wednesday Oct 20, 5:30-8:00
Thursday Oct 21, 5:30-8:00
Friday Oct 22, 5:30-8:00

And of course, there is the final rehearsal on the morning of TTW.

You should only need to attend one practice.

Please let me know if you need to meet later in the evening for your practices. (If enough of you say 6pm, we'll start at 6pm.)

FYI, the rehearsal spaces I am working on are in Central Durban.

Help needed!

Right now, we are looking for dance instructors* and a few venues for rehearsals next week. If you are interested in helping out, or have any leads on people we could contact, please email us at ttw10durban@gmail.com or sms Aleksandra at 071 340 9571.

*don't worry, the dance is very easy to pick up if you're a dancer.

LET'S DO THIS, DURBAN!