The University of Wyoming campus will be haunted by an infestation of the living dead this weekend. Figures with discolored eyes, gushing wounds and decaying faces will be walking amongst the living as students are transformed into ghoulish zombies to celebrate the global synchronized performance of “Thrill the World.”

At 9 tonight, as a conclusion to Alcohol Awareness Week, Friday Night Fever, the UW Counseling Center and Cowboy Choices are teaming up to teach interested students Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance, made popular 26 years ago because of a tune and marathon music video of the same name.

Three hours will be set aside for the crash course to master the moves in the Wyoming Union Ballroom.

The official dress rehearsal and performance is at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the Arts and Sciences Auditorium. Students will be prepped and made into zombies with the help of the theater department before the final boogie begins at noon.

Laramie won’t be the only participant. Thousands of people across the world will be performing together on the same day in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record.

According to the official website, “Thrill the World” started as a worldwide event in 2006. As the idea travelled through word of mouth, zombies have been thrilling and setting record-breaking numbers for the largest dance across the world in a single day since then. In addition, volunteer organizations have used the day as an option to raise money and organize events.

The most recent record for the “Largest Simultaneous Thriller Dance” was last year when 1,722 people on 5 continents danced collectively.

Cowboy Choices leader Angela Barrett said she is planning for at least 200 students to participate, but wants over 400 “zombies” to partake in the final dance.

“I hope we get a large turnout; it should be really exciting,” Barrett said. “The more people that show up, the more fun it will be.”

If students are unable to attend Friday’s learning session, the dance can also be taught through videos on the official Web site at www.thrilltheworld.com.

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The United States and China have a deep and complicated relationship. This partnership is often misunderstood by the populations of both countries because negative media representation, competition for resources and “Cold War-ish” paranoia contradict the necessity of the relationship between China and the U.S, according to Jean Garrison, the director of International Studies at the University of Wyoming.

UW’s International Studies Program will host a discussion at 3:10 p.m. Oct. 16 in Classroom Building Room 129 followed by an in-depth question-and-answer session.  The program is part of the International Studies Institute of Global Affairs initiative.

The main speaker at the presentation will be Robert Ross, a Boston College professor and associate with Harvard University’s John King Fairbank Center for East Asian Research.

 The panel will include the University of Shanghai’s Yan Quan, an expert in China-Taiwan relations, Lumberg Chai, an UW political science professor, and Garrison.

 “Students need to understand the complexity of the relationship between China and the U.S. to avoid a lack of understanding that could lead to conflict. The U.S.’s relationship with China is the most important relationship we have with any other nation. This bilateral exchange is essential to both nations’ economies.” Garrison said.

In the past, U.S. and China relations have not been without strain. Openly negative U.S. opinions about Taiwan, the Republic of South Korea and the Chinese occupation of Tibet have been, and will continue to be, some of the top political issues of U.S. and China relations, Garrison said.

With China becoming one of the most powerful nations on the planet, top issues like energy, security and the economy will be at the forefront of political discussion between the two nations for years to come, Garrison said.

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