Seeing a 'Thriller' Record in a Different Light

At the College of William & Mary, Kevin Dua became a student of Michael Jackson's dance moves.

Okay, technically he was a history major. But the Alexandria, Va., native -- a fan of the Gloved One since age 5 -- also devoted time during his college years to another pursuit: mimicking and memorizing every shuffle and shoulder pop in Jackson's "Thriller" dance.

All of that music video scrutiny paid off in April when Dua, 21, and a couple hundred of his William & Mary peers broke the Guinness World Record for largest "Thriller" dance ever. The 242 students/zombies who came, grooved and conquered on April 19 in the Williamsburg campus's Sunken Garden beat the previous "Thriller" record of 147, set last year in London.

That triumph, which felt nothing but sweet just a few weeks ago, now tastes more bittersweet to Dua, an ardent Jackson admirer despite having been born five years after "Thriller's" release. (Dua says the music of Jackson and the Jackson 5 pervaded his Alexandria home when he was growing up. For proof, look no further than Dua's older brother. Name? Jermaine.)

"It's a strange, sad feeling," Dua said via telephone on Friday of his response to Jackson's death. "I honestly felt that I was never going to feel this way for someone that I'd never met before."

Dua, who graduated from William & Mary in May, doubts his "Thriller" dance record will immediately get broken, despite intensified interest in the King of Pop following his death. But even if it does, that's okay.

"The fact that we did it within the span of a month or so [of his death]? It means a lot," he says. "We broke the record while he was living."