Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/90018
NEWS BRIEFS Among the cast members during the 2011 performance of Thriller on St. Armands Circle were Sara- sota High School students Alyssa Holcomb (left) and Alyssa Fenton. Contributed photo SARASOTA HIGH STUDENTS PLAN FOURTH ANNUAL THRILLER PERFORMANCE For the fourth consecutive year, Sarasota High School students will perform the elab- orate choreography of Thriller, the macabre song and dance created by the late Michael Jackson. As in previous years, the students will stage the dance live on St. Armands Circle on Hal- loween night, Oct. 31, a Sarasota County Schools news release says. On Oct. 18, 200 students tried out for a panel of judges at the high school. Fifty were chosen for the cast, the release adds. On Wednesday, Oct. 31, the students will spend hours in makeup and costume prepa- ration, with the help of SHS parents and alum- ni members, the release says. Then they will head to St. Armands Circle. At 6:30 p.m. they will do a "zombie walk," the release notes, "luring unsuspecting tourists and locals to the park in the center of the circle," where they will perform Jackson's Thriller dance at 8 p.m. "This has become such a huge annual event on St. Armands," said Melissa Dweck, drama teacher at SHS, in the news release. "Last year more than 3,000 spectators followed us to the Circle. The event has become so popular that we have organizations and places calling us from out in the community, asking us if we would be at their Halloween event."