King of Pop at the Covenant House: it's a dance-off

Covenant House is a national network of shelters for homeless youth. Every year, the Oakland branch shelter holds a fundraiser, usually in the form of a silent auction. But when the time came for this year’s fundraiser, the kids at the shelter wanted to do something new, something different; to honor the late King of Pop Michael Jackson.

The teens decided to hold a dance-off to raise money and awareness about the shelter. The prize for the winning team? Tickets to see “This Is It,” the posthumous movie documenting Jackson’s final performances. Morgan Ross is a student in our Public Interest Reporting Program at Mills College in Oakland. She attended the fundraiser and files this report.

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MORGAN ROSS: It’s a recent Saturday evening, about a week before Halloween, and a group of teens from East Oakland is practicing a dance routine choreographed to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It." They’re laughing and nudging each other, excited for the upcoming battle. After a month of practice, the dance crew is ready to show off what they got. 13-year-old Kimmy lives at the Covenant House shelter.

KIMMY: I’m doing the “Beat It" dance. You are in for a crazy show, yes…

Kimmy says she’s been dancing for more than three years. She has been staying at the shelter for more than a year. All the teens in the competition are either homeless or considered at-risk, which means they’ve gotten in trouble with the law.

Youth counselor Kat Chin explains letting loose and performing helps the kids cope with their situation.

KAT CHIN: A part of it is becoming part of a community and having them develop in their leadership, and their expression of themselves, and I think it is a good thing for them to express themselves through art, and through spoken word and dance and everything.

The teenagers prepared by studying YouTube videos of Michael Jackson performances on a used laptop donated by local church charities. One group will perform "Thriller," dressed as Zombies. The "Beat It" dancers are wearing preppy, letter jackets to go with their ensembles.

18-year-old Jeremy helped choreograph the dance for the Thriller crew.

JEREMY: You know we’re going to do our best, it was hard to get it together in the beginning, but by the end, it started to look really good.

Although Jeremy says that this is all in a good fun, and winning isn’t everything, he and the dancers have gotten into the competitive spirit.

JEREMY: I think we have the better dance and I think we look better too.

The counselors at Covenant House act as both role models and friends, and have helped the teens create their costumes and dance props for the show.

Counselor coordinator Miriam Toor is putting the finishing touches on one of the costumes; sewing a black button on the red jacket of the head dancer for the "Thriller" dance.

MIRIAM TOOR: It is definitely a lot of fun for myself and for them to hang out. They definitely make my day interesting. They don’t get to go to formal dances and this way to express themselves, and be normal, to be kids.

As the teens prepare to go onstage, what they don’t know is that it really doesn’t matter which team wins; the counselors at covenant house have already bought movie tickets for all of them-- about 60 teens in total.

TOOR: Yeah the big surprise, yeah, I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they find out we got all the tickets for them and yeah we got them… (laughs)

Minutes before the dance competition, the event attendees are out on the dance floor-- a basketball court by day-- grooving to another Jackson tune: “Smooth Criminal.”

Watching the fun is 14-year-old Wendy, a dancer for the Thriller Dance Team. She’s pacing back and forth, and laughing nervously with her friends.

WENDY: I hope I do Michael Jackson some justice.

And the competition begins. "Thriller" goes first.

The teens execute intricate dance moves, popping and locking while moving to the beat. At the end, the audience stands and cheers wildly.

The performance seems like a tough act to follow, but the "Beat It" dancers are prepared. Their routine is complete with props including an eggbeater and a fly swatter too, well, “Beat It.”

Between all the gags and good-natured fun, the dancers use truly Jackson-esque dance spins and finger snaps. And after the dance, the applause is just as loud as before.

At nine o’clock it’s time to hear the results. Both teams gather and huddle together in excitement to find out who gets to go see their beloved movie. Youth Director Fred Ngo walks to the podium holding a yellow envelope, glancing between the teams conspiratorially.

FRED NGO: The judges have met and made their decision. For the winning dance team to see "This Is It..." you see we actually raised enough money for all of you.”

Both teams are hugging one another and jumping around. They’ve forgotten all about the competition. They are just happy to be able to go to the movie together.

The fundraiser raised more than 1,500 dollars that will go to the shelter and provide more activities like this one, for the homeless teens to take part in-- to simply have fun. They end the night huddled together singing another one of their Jackson favorites “You Are Not Alone.”

In East Oakland, I’m Morgan Ross.