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Community Corner

Elmhurst Teens 'Just Bust a Move' for Ellen's Dance Dare

Improv comedy troupe take their dancing to the streets of Chicago.

Dancing right behind complete strangers in public places has never been so much fun.

That’s what Kirsten Mose, Michelina Boehmer and Lizzie Rudakas discovered after deciding to take advantage of a few spare hours on a Saturday afternoon to film a digital short to submit to the Ellen DeGeneres Show for “Ellen’s Dance Dare.”

On Jan. 16, DeGeneres challenged her viewers to film themselves dancing behind unsuspecting people in unusual places for a chance to dance on Ellen’s show, taped at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, Calif. 

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It seemed like the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon for the three, who have been making audiences laugh with their antics for the past two years. Most recently, Michelina and Lizzie, sophomores, and Kirsten, a freshman, performed their original show, “My Family’s Insane,” and participated with , S-Cubed, at Chicago Sketchfest.

Michelina saw the contest announced on Ellen and immediately called her friends. Kirsten said they couldn’t wait to get started. 

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“We just hopped the train and said, ‘OK, Let’s do this,’ ” she said.

In the 3 1/2-minute short, the three show their flare for dance by cavorting near, behind and around—but definitely not with—complete strangers at recognizable Chicago landmarks like the Metra station, Union Station, Chicago Cultural Center, the skating rink and the Cloud Gate Sculpture—better known as “The Bean”—in Millennium Park. 

“There was a lady who caught us dancing at her, and she got very angry,” Kirsten said.

That clip, filmed at Macy’s, was quickly deleted after their quick departure from the store.

“It’s funny now, but it was really scary at the time,” Kirsten said, laughing.

But for the most part, the enthusiastic dance moves went largely unnoticed by their unknowing dance partners. 

Whether the film clip will lead to fame or notoriety or a nod from Ellen DeGeneres isn’t important to the group. For them, comedy improv is about extracting humor from the most everyday circumstances.

“It’s child’s play,” Kirsten said. “But there’s so much more to it. It’s complex, but then again, it’s just fun. I like making other people happy with it. Smiles all around.”

Learn more about Just Bust a Move at www.justbustamove.net or on JBAM's Facebook page.

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