Danger … or just ‘Thriller?’ Video shows teens being ‘kidnapped’ in Woodbridge
WOODBRIDGE — In one scene, two groups of girls walking down the street are taken by figures in black hoodies and purple masks.
In another, a girl sitting at the train station is swarmed by a group of figures in the same outfits ... but in the end everyone dances together with their masks off.
This is not a public safety video put out by the local police department about child safety — or even a video of actual abductions — but rather a dance video put out by the champion dancers from Across the Floor Dance School. Sara Reynolds, who founded the school, said the video was a gift to the dancers after they won a national competition.
While the video shows the teens being kidnapped in the beginning, Reynolds said it was meant to be a tribute of sorts to Michael Jackson's legendary "Thriller" video. She said because it was meant to channel Thriller, they wanted to to get it done before Halloween.
"If you know the 'Thriller' video, they're kind of captured by zombies," she said. "They do a whole dance routine. At the end they take their mask off and they're who they are, they're back in their reality."
Reynolds said that while the video is not about the dangers of kidnapping, it was also meant to "provide a consciousness that you need to be observant."
"That really wasn't the purpose of this video. The purpose was more about this dance and fun," she said. "We're about promoting and training these kids through dance and building them up in a positive environment. There's nothing negative about it. It wasn't meant to promote anything but them dancing."
Since the video came out last week, Reynolds said, the kids are excited about how the video came out, and they're already getting ready for their next season of dance competitions.