In the US, the holiday in honor of all things scary, Halloween, is Friday. Most people dress up in costumes and go to parties or take their children around the neighborhood trick or treating. But a Canadian woman named Ines Markeljevic organized a world-wide simultaneous performance of the zombie dance from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video that took place last Saturday.

Markeljevic’s goal was to have 200,000 people participate in Thrill the World. She may have over estimated a little–the final number was 4,177 people. But that was still enough to break the world record. Interestingly, the record was previously held by a prison in the Philippines which got 1,500 inmates to do the dance all at once. Crime rates within the prison plummeted as a result.

In an interview with the LA Times, Markeljevic jokes that the prison was feeling the “same global ‘Thriller’ consciousness.” It must have been an interesting feeling for the people involved to know that all over the world, other people were doing the same dance at the exact same time. And then they got to watch the videos later.

The idea that you can break a world record in 77 cities at once is a very cool use of the Internet and another global tool: pop culture. I love watching people all over the world interact daily on English, baby! but at present, it’s hard for them to dance together. But if doing the “Thriller” dance can bring peace to a prison, surely it can only do good for the world. And since this year the only non-English speaking country to Thrill the World was Germany, it seems a common language helps foster common moves, so we’ll continue to do our part.

Videos:

The Cebu, Philippines, Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center does “Thriller.” How do you think they picked the guy to play the girl?

The Berlin chapter of Thrill the World dances last weekend. To see all the videos, click here.

Part Ines Markeljevic’s tutorial on the step.

The Cebu, Philippines, Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center doing Soulja Boy. Why don’t American prisons do this?

I’ve noticed that around the site, members sometimes refer to themselves as “English babies,” which is funny because that wasn’t the intention of the brand at all. But if we were to have some sort of diapered mascot, I think this would be him.

This video is at the top of the viral video charts, and a big part of what’s so endearing about it is that the child (named Hero Ha) clearly doesn’t know English, yet manages to make the song pretty intelligible and deliver it with passion. Entertainment is how a lot of the world learns its first English words, and the amount Hero has been able to absorb from music makes him a linguistic prodigy. But interestingly, most other bloggers and commenters on the video seem to regard him as a musical prodigy. One Korean television show even compares him to Mozart.

Now, call me jaded, but for as much charisma as Hero has, he doesn’t seem to have as much skill as a musician or performer as the other kids who appeared with him on this Korean show.

Folks have suggested that Hero is the next Michael Jackson or a reincarnation of John Lennon, and time will tell, but I’d peg him as a linguist, because his ability to learn English pronunciation just by listening to music is what is most remarkable about him. I mean, I have a CD of Cambodian rock songs that I listen to all the time, but every time I try to sing along, it just doesn’t work. There’s no way I could sing one of those songs from memory like Hero does with the Beatles.