By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — Upper Manhattan’s zombies came out days before Halloween to shake their bones while attempting to break a world record of people simultaneously dancing to Michael Jackson’s classic song "Thriller."
Students in grades six through eight from I.S. 52 at Broadway and Academy Street were part of 6,590 international dancers who strutted their stuff on the "thriller night" contest Saturday, organized by a dance group called "Thrill the World."
Although the unofficial count for dancers came in much lower than last year’s record breaking 22,596 dancers from 33 countries, I.S. 52 dance instructor Teresa Boitel said teaching the dance was a great way to reach students.
"I had a hunch that the kids would b engaged by the music and choreography," she said, "and they were."
Boitel said the dance is taught in a unique manner, linking words for each dance move rather than counting steps.
"With so many non English speaking kids, the dance script was a fun path towards language acquisition," she said of instructing the predominantly Latino student body.
But beyond enhanced teaching tools, Boitel said having fun was also a big part of the thrilling event.
"Attempting to break a world record was a pretty good motivator as well" she said.
