GRAY – Outfitted in bloody makeup and tattered clothes, more than 40 students and a few adults at Gray-New Gloucester Middle School danced Saturday in an event aimed at setting a Guinness world record.

“Thrill the World” took place in more than 90 cities, including Berlin, Shanghai and Brisbane. The goal was to break the record for the largest number of people dancing simultaneously, set to the 1982 song “Thriller” by Michael Jackson.

Nathan Harnden, a drama teacher at Gray-New Gloucester Middle School, said the event was a coordinated effort by the drama and dance clubs.

“We spent a lot of time working on the set design and putting on makeup,” he said.

The school stage was decorated with ghoulishly painted sets, complete with coffins and head stones, reflecting Jackson’s famous zombie-starring music video.

More than 200 community members watched the approximately six minutes of specially choreographed dancing that began promptly at 2 p.m. Dancers across the globe began dancing at the same moment.

The current record for simultaneous dancing is 197,569 students doing the Hokey-Pokey in 681 locations across Canada in 2002. Organizers did not announce whether the world record was broken by Saturday’s effort, but for participants it was about the experience.

Stephanie Sailor, a Gray-New Gloucester eighth-grader, said she loved the extra opportunity to wear a costume before her favorite holiday, Halloween.

“I had a lot of fun,” she said, after the dancing was complete. “We definitely didn’t think it was going to be as crowded as it was.”

Sailor, her face covered with macabre makeup, said the group spent time practicing before the official dance.

“There were so many of us, it took an hour to get our makeup on,” she said.

The “Thrill the World” movement began in 2005, led by dance instructor Ines Markeljevic. She schedules the event around Halloween to capitalize on the seasonal enthusiasm for the undead, according to her Web site. In 2007, “Thrill the World” included 1,722 dancers in 52 cities on five continents.

Markeljevic has YouTube posts on her Web site to help anyone in the world learn the steps to “Thriller.” The local middle school dancers practiced for weeks before Saturday’s event.

After the dancing, refreshments were served to zombies, ghouls and regular folks. Audience members were wowed by the dancers’ coordination and Harnden was pleased with the turnout.

“It was a fun thing to do and the kids really enjoyed it,” he said.