Yesterday they showed the footage on the Better Connecticut show. If you missed it, that’s okay, here is the video!

www.ThrillMeLLC.com

You can now contact us on our new email: info@ThrillMeLLC.com

Hollywood East Connection

Featured on Friday, June 25, 2010

By: Victoria Kichuk

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death. While radio will never again get to debut new music by the Gloved One, the indelible mark his career left on pop culture will not be diminished for many years to come. In Connecticut, a small-town duo has even started their own business in the spirit of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, proving that in this way, he will forever be undead…

HEC: How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Shelby Threloff: In the summer of 2008 I learned the 6-minute dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” so I could entertain the patrons at the Trail of Terror, a haunted attraction in Wallingford, Connecticut. I have been volunteering there for the last 15 years. The past 5 years I have been frontline entertainment and did contests and performances to make the 5-hour wait a bit more comfortable.

The fall of 2008, my now business partner, Jennifer “Jenna” Keller, learned the dance so I didn’t have to dance by myself. Many of the other Trail of Terror volunteers starting asking if we could teach them the dance, so we did. Then friends and friends of friends starting asking us if we could teach them as well. Then we realized, we could probably make a few dollars doing this. Why don’t we start a business? After many business name ideas, I finally came up with “Thrill Me LLC” and it stuck.

HEC: How did you get started?

We got our big break when one of our students emailed Michael Maze at the KC 101 radio show telling them how great our class was. He did a 1-minute interview over the phone with Jenna one morning and our email blew up. We received almost 200 emails that morning from people who heard us on the radio. Unfortunately at the time, we were so new that we didn’t even have a website!

HEC: How do you promote your business?

Most of our advertising has been word of mouth or other free advertising over the past year. The Michael Maze interview on KC 101 was the most successful in growing our customer base.

On March 3, 2010, we were on “Better Connecticut” to talk about us performing and teaching a breakout session for the attendees of the Women’s Health Conference on March 14, 2010. It was so much fun being on set because we got to teach Scot Haney, Kara Sundlun and Nancy Wyman, Connecticut State Comptroller, a small portion of the dance.

HEC: Have you always been a big Michael Jackson fan?

Yes. I remember when I was a kid and I would watch “Free Willy” on tape. At the beginning of the tape it had the music video for Michael Jackson’s “Will You Be There.” I loved that. And even though “Thriller” came out the same year I was born, I loved the zombies in the video when I was young. I have always wanted to see MJ live and was planning on purchasing tickets for his last tour. Now that he has passed, I have seen Joby Rogers, professional Michael Jackson impersonator, twice. He’s pretty amazing live.

HEC: Any plans for the future in terms of expanding on your idea?

Currently, we offer group or private dance lessons to learn the 6-minute dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” also known as “Cardio Thriller.” This is because this dance really makes you break a sweat. The first month that we started teaching this class twice a week for a full month, I lost 8 pounds and my partner lost 12!

We also do birthday parties! We have developed a 3-minute modified version of the “Thriller” dance that we teach to children of all ages. We show up to the party in full zombie makeup and costume and perform the dance, then teach it to the kids. At the end we give away prizes to our MIZ (Most Improved Zombie) and our MVZ (Most Valuable Zombie) but always make sure that all of the kids get a little something for participating.

We also have a less zombified birthday party that we offer. We also teach the dance to Miley Cyrus’ (Hannah Montana) “Hoedown Throwdown” that was featured in the “Hannah Montana: The Movie.”

We recently added two new activities to our list of offerings. Zombie Wedding Crashes! You would be surprised in the reaction we get when people hear about Zombies crashing a wedding, they LOVE it! We do not interrupt the ceremonial aspect of the wedding but we come in full zombie makeup and costume during the reception and perform full “Thriller” dance, dance with the Mother-in-law, take pictures with guests, and wish the bride and groom “Do Death Do You Part.”  We can teach the entire wedding party the dance, so they can perform with us.

Check out Thrill Me LLC. once again on “Better Connecticut“, at 3PM July 19, CT channel 3 WFSB,  where they will be teaching host Teresa LaBarbera and a group of her friends the dance. You can also check out their Facebook Fan Page here.

So, while Shelby was pulling out her hair over my book-keeping, we have also been continuing with our classes at the Women & Family Life Center in Guilford. Our adult class that we finished last night was amazingly fun! One of our students had the nerve to bring a bottle of wine to class, stating that she felt like she did it better with a little bit of liquid courage in her. We told her otherwise. The class was a fantastic group of women who worked their butts off and now can proudly say that they are “Cardio Thriller” graduates! Congrats to our new “Most Valuable Zombie” Patty  and our “Most Improved Zombie”  Kari, they both deserved it!

Now, with Taxes and classes under control, we have decided to add one more thing onto our plate and start a website! We are incredibly excited about this and are loving what the crew at Weblux Designs are coming up with for us. You can view a teeny tiny preview at www.thrillmellc.com. 

 That about covers our recent activity, we have the Annual Womans  Health Conference coming up for the WFLC on March 14, classes starting up again at the Jared Andrew Studio next week, which you can view on our calender and of course we are gearing up for the National Haunters Convention in April!

Time to cut this short, getting emails from Shelby about our accountant meeting this afternoon, time to sift through body parts for old receipts

~Jenna

Zombie Children at the WFLC

Last Friday we began Part 1 of our two-part teen class at the Women and Family Life Center in Guilford, Connecticut. In this class we are teaching students from Grades 6 through 8 “Thriller” in hopes to enliven a love for movement and exercise. We were happy to see a nice mix of boys and ghouls in the class, for a total of 9 zombie children.

Although we modify the dance to teach a younger crowd, we feel these kidscould have picked up the real dance without a stitch! One student in particular picked it up so quick that I offered to teach him the real dance moves. I showed him the proper way to do the ‘shoulder step’ and he did it correctly the first time trying it. Amazing.

It’s entertaining to not only watch these amazing children dance like Michael, but to also think that they were not even born when this song came out!

Definitely looking forward to Friday’s class!

-Shelby

They were from the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, which is a maximum security prison in the Philippines.

Well, they are back!

Michael Jackson’s long-time choreographer Travis Payne and dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid visited the Center and taught them the dance from Michael Jackson’s “This Is It.”

This video has only been out for a week and it already has over 2 million hits!

What do you think about Thrill Me teaching the “This Is It” dance? Let us know!

-Shelby

Zombie-Hand Earrings!

Last month, Jenna told me that she had the best Christmas present for me ever and that when she saw it, she HAD to buy it. Ok, you have my attention. But she wouldn’t tell me what it was. “Just don’t make plans on December 26th,” she said. Well, I obviously knew that we were going someplace, and it was probably tickets of some kind.

On Saturday, December 26, 2009, at 6:15pm, Jenna pulled into my driveway, walked in, threw something at me and says, “Put this on,” a Michael Jackson t-shirt. I did and then gave her the Christmas present that I bought her, handmade Zombie-Hand Earrings!

Ticket to The Ultimate Michael Jackson Experience

Then she told me where we were going – TO SEE JOBY ROGERS – THE ULTIMATE MICHAEL JACKSON EXPERIENCE! If you have never heard of Joby Rogers, he is the best, hands-down, Michael Jackson impersonator around, not only that, he’s from Meriden, Connecticut! And small world, Jenna’s boyfriend use to work at Tommy K’s in Meriden, where Joby would frequent back in the day.

Since the early 1980’s, since he was 17 years old, Joby Rogers has been impersonating Michael. At some point after the kid’s birthday parties and Broadway shows, he was chosen by Michael Jackson, himself, to serve as his official double based on Joby’s appearance, mannerisms, voice, and dance moves.

Excited for the show!

The show was absolutely amazing. The place was packed and I’m not sure if I saw a single open seat from where we were sitting! Joby would perform a song or two, then run off stage, where I could only imagine he was doing a quick costume change and having his makeup reapplied. You see Joby is actually a dark skinned man, so to impersonate Michael later in his career he must get airbrushed frequently. While he was offstage they played one or two of Michael’s music videos or they had the dancers perform to one of the songs alone to entertain the crowd.

And to top off an excellent night, afterwards we went and played the slot machines. Jenna was only on for 3 minutes and the machine was eating her money like crazy, but THEN SHE HIT FOR $300! A lucky end to a great MJ filled night!

If you would like to see more pictures from the show visit our Fans Page and click on “Photos.”

Oh – And of course they did “THRILLER!”

-Shelby

“Thrill Me” (Michael Jackson style) For Middle Schoolers
Submitted by Linda Westgard, Women and Family Life Center, on 2010-01-13.

“Cause this is thriller thriller night.” The Women & Family Life Center is thrilled to offer middle school boys and girls the chance to experience the “funk of forty thousand years.”

On Friday January 29, and February 5 from 7:00-9:00 pm, middle schoolers have an opportunity to learn the Michael Jackson Thriller dance and get a great cardio workout at the same time. Taught by two “Zombie Thriller Experts” Shelby Threloff and Jenna Keller (who hone their ghoulish skills at the annual Trail of Terror), the class is a fun and entertaining way to get some exercise with friends and have a great time.

The dance is taught in two, two-hour sessions and it is also being taught to adults on other dates. Classes are filling with wanna-be zombies, so sign up early.

The WFLC is located at 96 Fair Street Guilford, CT. It provides education, wellness and support programs and offers resource and referral services to women and families along the shoreline.

To register, contact the WFLC at (203) 458-6699 or visit the website at www.womenandfamilylifecenter.org for more information.

Thanks to Linda and the rest of the Center’s gang!
-Shelby

Now that the holidays are over, it’s back to creating our Connecticut based Zombie Army.

Thrill Me's Facebook Advertisement

Class sizes have been medial so we designed a Facebook advertisement through our Facebook Fans page hoping to bring them back from the dead. Have you seen it yet?

Please let us know how we can improve your Thrill Me experience! Write us a comment, send us an email, or make a post on our Facebook Fans page! LET – US – KNOW!

Jenna and I have been super busy with scheduling events outside of our weekly classes at the Jared Andrew Studio in North Haven. Coming up in a few weeks are 2 Adults and 1 Teen “Thriller” classes at the Women and Family Life Center in Guilford, Connecticut. For more information about the classes or the center visit their website.

In addition, we will be performing and presenting at the Women and Family Life Center’s Health conference on Sunday, March 14, 2010. So if you want to get a sneak peek at what you’d learn at one of our classes come on down! Contact the Center for more information.

Also – HUGE news!

Thrill Me has been asked to teach a class at the National Haunters Convention in April! Not only that, but we will be performing the dance with our students dressed in our zombie attire for our fellow patrons at the Saturday night party! This is a great opportunity for us to show off our skills to professional haunters from all over the country. As of yesterday we booked our hotel room and are counting down the days till our trip!

For a list of all of our future events visit our NEW Calendar of Events page! And don’t forget to visit our Facebook Fans page and tell your friends about us!

We thank you for your support.

- Shelby

After performing in 40 degree weather at the Trail of Terror Friday and Saturday evening (and let me tell you, it feels even colder when you’re out there for a few hours!) Jenna and I got up early for Maggie’s Birthday Party on Sunday!

Happy Birthday Maggie!

Thanks to our on call amazing makeup artist, Mr. Lou Harmon, we dressed in our ceremonial Zombie makeup and garb and sauntered over to Maggie’s house in Wallingford. We were pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of kids watching the music video to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” on TV and infamous prison inmates “Thriller” video on YouTube.

Although Maggie, her friends, and her little brother were very bright 7 and 9 year olds, Jenna and I thought it would be a good idea to simplify the steps for them. Due to our very busy schedule we did not have an opportunity to prepare for this ahead of time, so as we taught the kids most of it was improv! Welcome to the new dance steps of “Lean, Lean, Lean, POINT!” and “Walk, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and die.” Yes… “…and die” is a new featured dance step thanks to the kids! All they wanted to do towards the end of our session with them was fall on the ground “and die,” so you all got your wish.

We had asked the kids how they thought Jenna and I “died,” and apparently I was struck by lightning and Jenna was on the plane that hit the twin towers back before any of them were born. Kids say the darndest things!

Thanks again to Cara and Mark for having us!

-Shelby