Jenna Thornber will bust a move anywhere, as long as there are unsuspecting people present for her to dance around.

Laundromats, classrooms and Wal-Mart stores are just some of the places where she's been caught — on camera — shaking her stuff.

The 19-year-old began having friends film her boogieing to the beats in her head in an effort to get on The Ellen DeGeneres Show — a program she has been in love with since the television personality voiced the character of Dory on Finding Nemo.

“I just love everything she does on the show,” she said. “I know Ellen loves dancing so much.”

After Thornber started filming her dance missions, she found out Ellen was actually hosting a contest called Ellen's Dance Dare.

“What you have to do is dance behind people without them noticing,” Thornber explained. Naturally, the first-year Laurentian University outdoor adventure leadership student was up for the challenge.

“It's actually a lot of fun,” she said. Some of the scenes in the video she submitted to the contest were planned out and others were random acts of dancing. Thornber admitted to being a bit shy about the whole ordeal when it started, but now feels pretty comfortable busting out just about anywhere.

“My parents ask me all the time 'how can you do that?'” she said. “I find it fun.”
She finds her confidence in simply going for it.

“Just don't think about it too much,” she said. “Just do it. Dance like nobody is watching.”

She's not the only one who enjoys dancing — more than 3,400 people have watched her video on YouTube.com. However, the real honour was earlier this month, when two clips of Thornber made it onto a montage that actually aired on Ellen.

Thornber said it was “surreal” watching herself on the show. Knowing Ellen, and guests on the show like Michelle Obama, had seen her dance was a flattering experience.

Now, the Uxbridge-native is eyeing an opportunity to actually go to a live taping of the show. But until Ellen announces a winner to her Dance Dare contest, Thornber plans to keep on dancing.

She has never had formal instruction in the sport, but she does have lots of practise.

“I'm not a trained dancer,” she said with a laugh. “It's just (what I do) in my room in front of the mirror.”

To watch Thornber in action, click here.

Posted by Arron Pickard