World Dance for Humanity hosting virtual Halloween Dance Fest
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — On a typical year, hundreds of dancers dressed as zombies would rise together to perform Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden on Saturday.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s annual performance is going to be physically distanced and entirely online.
The World Dance for Humanity, a non-profit organization in Santa Barbara, is holding the first ever virtual global celebration.
“We said, alright let's boogie and just do it on Zoom,” WD4H executive director Janet Reineck said. “We've been doing Zoom classes ever since COVID-19 began.”
Since the pandemic started, Reineck has taught 214 consecutive classes from inside her living room, to bring the community together through dance.
"We always know that every morning at 10 o'clock we're going to be together,” Reineck said. We'll have time to really feel that community."
"Having those classes just lifted us up,” one regular dancer Juanita Johnson said. “Even if it was just for that one hour."
This year is the 10th Anniversary of the Thrills & Chills Halloween event.
Dancers are making the most out of a very scary situation.
"Dancing virtually lets you get creative in ways that you wouldn't be able to in our typical Halloween event,” Heather Williams said.
The virtual festive event will be over Zoom starting on Saturday at 3 p.m., then it will be followed with a Halloween Costume Dance Party on Oct. 31 at 3 p.m.
The event will have a video montage of international dancers. Participants can submit their home video to the organization by Oct. 25.
The daily dance classes teaches steps to Halloween classics: Ghostbusters, Monster Mash and Stevie Wonder’s Superstition.
This fun tradition also helps a great cause.
"Every single penny from the money we make from classes and donations goes directly to Rwanda,” Reineck said.
Over the past six months, the nonprofit has provided food for over 6,000 Rwandans threatened with starvation.
WD4H is helping 12,000 people in 28 rural communities, as donations were used to bring emergency food relief in the wake of COVID-19 shutdowns and failed crops.
Although Saturday’s dance may only take a few minutes, the memories will last a lifetime.
"We'll creep up off the ground at exactly 3 o'clock, exactly together with the rest of the world,” Reineck said. “It's the only thing like it on our planet."
"We all need a way to be free of our worries and ourselves for a little bit,” Williams concluded. “The Thrills & Chills dance party is a great way to do that."
Dance instructors will hold THRILLER dance workshops on Oct. 10, 17 and 24 at 10 a.m., and on Oct. 14 and 21 at 6 p.m. To register for THRILLS & CHILLS, click here.
The programs are offered free of charge, with an option for participants to make a donation of any amount.
The organization has a “pay-what-you-can-afford” business model for a donation that has successfully generated thousands of dollars in proceeds.
