Westview Dance Troupe performed the song, “Thriller,” by Michael Jackson, in the Rancho Penasquitos Halloween Community Festival, Oct. 21, at Hilltop Park in the event’s local flash mob. Coach Jamie Pimentel was excited for the team to gain experience participating in public events, much like she did back in her years on the Dance Troupe. 

“Our team hasn’t had an opportunity like this before,” Pimentel said. “Being  a previous dancer on the Westview team, I danced at a few of these events, like at an old folks home, December Nights [at Balboa Park], and other things like that. I felt really lucky for the girls to participate, especially since COVID, in the past few years, had taken away a lot of opportunities like these.”

The Penasquitos Town Council had planned a wide range of Halloween-themed activities with food trucks, a bouncy house, and a costume contest. They had requested the girls to lead a community flash mob to “Thriller,” where anybody in the community could join in with them.

“It’s fun because it brings any age or person together,” Pimentel said. “And if you don’t know the song, you probably already know a couple moves because it’s just so popular and iconic. So, it’s really easy for the public to join in.”  

The dancers began to learn “Thriller” about a week before the event. First year member, Bela Henderson (10) said the dance wasn’t too difficult, but the prospect of performing a flash mob was quite foreign to her. 

“The dance is really simple,” Henderson said. “There’s not a lot of hard dance moves that require a lot of technique, so everybody is able to learn and to do it. So, practicing it was not that stressful. But, I’ve never really done this type of community dance project before and I know the team hasn’t either.”

Eva Porter (11) said that though she was used to performing in front of the public, she was anxious to have people join her. 

“I’m a little bit nervous honestly because I’ve never had people be able to get really close to me while I’m dancing,” Porter said. 

Despite their nerves, in the end, both Henderson and Porter said they enjoyed the experience. 

“It was really exciting to get to see different parts of the community, like all different ages, all different people with different backgrounds coming together to do one thing,” Henderson said. “It was also nice giving back to the community that supports us so much.”

 The festival was also a chance to gain funds for the team and Pimentel couldn’t be more grateful. 

“We’re really lucky because [the Penasquitos Town Council] said they wanted to try and raise some money for our future performances,” Pimentel said. “We have the winter and the spring show and [that money] will really help with things like paying for time in the theater and props, like the winter show’s snow machine or costumes. We do restaurant fundraisers, but we don’t ever end up making big numbers from them. Every dollar makes a difference with a self-funded team. ”

Overall, Pimentel plans to do more events like these, the dancers and her having enjoyed the event immensely. 

“Any opportunity to perform in front of a crowd is a great opportunity to grow as a dancer, so, the festival was such a great event,” she said. “I loved that it was all for our community and got so many people involved. I really hope we can make this a Westview Dance Troupe tradition. We have a few community ideas that we hope to implement this year like an opportunity before our winter show for young dancers and another clinic. This was a really unique opportunity and I’m super proud of our team for taking it on. We are grateful to everyone that joined in or supported.”