Dancing Inmates in Philippines Become Tourist Attraction
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 04.29.08 | 4:33 PM ET
A YouTube video of them dancing to Thriller (see below) made them famous. Now the inmates of the provincial prison on the island of Cebu in the Philippines are greeting audiences for a two-hour program on the last Saturday of every month. “Visitors can have their pictures taken with the prisoners,” Reuters reports. “They can also buy souvenir prison shirts.”
More from the story:
“It was great. I had fun. Two thumbs up,” said Kathleen, a local university student and one of hundreds of people who visit the jail every month to catch the inmates’ grooving in harmony.
From viewing platforms surrounding the exercise ground the audience cheer and dance as if it was a rock concert.
The dance numbers include Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga” and a new routine of the Bonnie Tyler song “I Need a Hero” which involves inmates holding portraits of iconic figures such as the Dalai Lama, Pope John Paul II and Mahatma Ghandi.
“They are so good at dancing all the time,” said Anne Yzerman, a research student from The Netherlands. “I was really impressed.”
I guess 14 million YouTube fans can’t be wrong. Here’s the video that started it all.
Related on World Hum:
* Cullen Thomas: Inside ‘Brother One Cell’
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
Jessmal Cruz 04.29.08 | 9:19 PM ET
that was great video, you guys rock…....
Dumaguete Guy 07.23.08 | 8:33 PM ET
I saw this video 6 months ago, I am tempted to pop over to Cebu to check this out myself :)
Guy
Connie 07.27.08 | 3:43 AM ET
This needs to be done here!!!! To bad they didn’t have the costumes too.