Published: November 03, 2009 10:24 am      

Corbin: Where fun things happen

Samantha Swindler

“Don’t dream it, be it.”

— Dr. Frank-N-Furter

Despite the headaches, the rain and a few last minute problems, boy did we have fun on Halloween night performing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” downtown.

I had a great time learning the dance, but the neatest thing about this whole event was who it brought together. It wasn’t a cliche. It wasn’t just friends of mine. It wasn’t just rich people, or young people, or even people who knew how to dance.

It was people who wanted to do something fun and different.

Our zombies came from Barbourville, Williamsburg, London, Corbin and even Somerset. We made new friends with people whom we never would have met outside of this. It was a true community event, and it brought us together not for any money, not because we’d get anything out of it, but simply because it was a chance to get off our butts and do something fun, at no cost.

“It’s been awesome, it’s been exhilarating, exciting,” said Vanessa Campbell, a zombie dancer who’s lived in Corbin for 20 years. “This has just been a way to meet people, to make new friends, friends you’ll see again in Wal-Mart and say hi. It’s been a fun experience.”

Stephanie Young, whose daughter Katie was in the dance, said “I thought it was great, she’s really enjoyed it. She had a lot of fun doing it.”

We didn’t know if we’d have 50 dancers or five. We didn’t know if anyone would even come see it. And when we asked the Corbin Police Department to block off Main Street down to Third Street for us, we didn’t realize the cops were also telling people that we’d dance those entire three city blocks.

By the time I got word of this after the dance, they had already started taking down the video and sound equipment, and the zombies were terribly disappointed that not everyone got to see the dance. When we do it again next year, we’ll loop the music track so the dance sequence plays twice, giving us about a block and a half of dancing — and the dance will go even farther if we have more zombies.

For a first-time event organized solely by volunteers, I think it went well. I hope to thrill downtown again on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010 with even more dancers.

And I hope Corbin keeps the thrills coming.

When the city of Corbin built the Arena, we set ourselves up to be the entertainment capital of Southeastern Kentucky. We’ve got a $28 million investment riding on our reputation as an entertainment destination — and there’s no reason that we can’t be. It’s a bit of a culture shift, but we absolutely need to embrace it for the Arena to be successful. We need more restaurants, karaoke bars, goofy dances and community events. I hope to see an art gallery and community theatre in Corbin’s future — things that will help us build a reputation as a small town where fun things happen.

It’s a reputation we need to work on.

When I first told people we were going to do “Thriller” and have a midnight screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” some (only half-jokingly) said we’d get protesters.

Give Corbin a little credit.

Corbin is a fun place to live, a fun place to visit, and we actually can have a sense of humor.

We had 126 in attendance at “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” — many in the audience already knew the shout backs and brought their own props. We had audience volunteers act out character parts below the screen. Was it perfect? No — we really needed someone to play Dr. Frank-N-Furter — but it was the first time we’d done that, too.

It can only get better.

I’ve stopped listening to the Debbie Downers in town — there’s way too much potential here. I saw the diversity in Saturday’s crowds and was inspired to believe that we can take the best parts of city-living entertainment, and still keep the best parts of a small town community.

Getting back to “Thriller,” none of it would have been possible without the dedication of Nicole Younger, who led and taught the “Thriller” dance to our ragtag group, the vast majority of which had no dance training. She has the patience of a saint and she dedicated her time every Wednesday — for no pay — to this project. Unfortunately, she couldn’t join us for the dance on Halloween night because she was busy leading one of the best color guards in the state (that’d be Corbin High School) in the state quarterfinals, in which the band and guard placed third.

Nicole, I’m ever-grateful to you for helping to make this happen.

Also thanks to Melissa Bond, the FCS/horticulture assistant with the Whitley County Extension Agency, who brought her theater students from Whitley County High School up to Corbin to help with zombie makeup. Melissa gave free undead makeup sessions and led the dance classes those last few days when Nicole was tied up with the high school band.

We’re already talking about getting the zombie gang back together to form a regular dance troupe, possibly to do dance routines during area festivals. If you’re interested in getting in on our next project, shoot me an e-mail or join our Corbin Thriller Zombies group on Facebook. I think street dancers might add to the next Nibroc parade, don’t you?

Samantha Swindler is the managing editor of the Times-Tribune. She can be reached at sswindler@thetimestribune.com