Yesterday I had a ball dancing my way through University City with Rashida Holmes, Sammy Reyes and the rest of the Philly Thriller dance group at various Halloween block parties! I answered the casting call that appeared on the listservs a few weeks ago and went to the rehearsals at the UC Arts League to learn the dance. Rashida organized the project and Sammy, who is a professional choreographer and dance instructor, taught the steps and led the group of about 10 of us, taking the role of "Michael Jackson" during the performances. We assembled our "vampire" costumes from thrift stores (thank you, Second Mile), and a professional makeup artist was recruited to create our (apparantly convincing, judging from the stares) "vampire" makeup. It was so much fun! We danced at 40th & Walnut, on Melville Street, 4200 block of Osage, 4200 Regent, and a bunch of others. The best part was watching the kids join in afterwards. The best by far was Liz's Haunted Garden at 46th and Springfield, where we performed a number of times in front of huge and very appreciative audiences! And hats off to Liz, who picked up the baton from Cindy Preston years ago and made Halloween a great event for the neighborhood. You can only imagine the amount of time, money, and effort that went into organizing volunteers to set up the Garden, recruiting people to greet visitors and create characters, purchasing treats, and coordinating with the City to close Springfield Avenue. There was an entire city block closed to traffic, with people literally dancing in the street. At one point the line to the Haunted Garden stretched from Liz's house on the corner of Farragut almost to 47th Street, with what had to be hundreds of people waiting for displays, tricks and treats. Thanks, Rashida, Sammy, all of the Philly Thriller Dancers, and Liz-- I had a great time! I made new friends, had fun, and took part in something nice for the kids. I will definitely be back next year!
