Casa de Latinos

Prisoners at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center or CPDRC are considered the most dangerous offenders in the Philippines. But thanks to four hours of dance lessons a day, their behavior has been transformed. Previously, Cebu prison was a wretched place ruled by rival gangs. But when the warden introduced dance lessons, everything changed. “Everyone became friends”. Now the prisoners spend most of the day practicing new routines. These prisoners became a worldwide sensation when a video of them dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was uploaded to YouTube by Byron Garcia, the security consultant of the Cebu Provincial Government.

Byron Garcia originally wanted to introduce a program at Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) where inmates would exercise for an hour each day. He saw waves of prisoners in the exercise yard and thought it looked good. He also claims in a British documentary that his inspiration came while watching the movie The Shawshank Redemption in particular the scene where the sounds of Mozart’s Figaro flood the prison yard.

Garcia initially introduced an exercise program where the prisoners marched in unison, starting out with marching to the beat of a drum, but moved on to dancing to pop music; he began with one of his favorite songs, Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)”. He chose camp music such as In The Navy and Y.M.C.A. by The Village People, so macho prisoners would not be offended at being asked to dance.

Garcia’s first upload of prisoner choreography was the Algorithm March, but this was almost entirely ignored. But the next upload Thriller had a massive response.

This YouTube footage, uploaded in mid-July, shows the prisoners dancing to the Michael Jackson song “Thriller.” The skit features Niere, playing Jackson, and Resane, as the “girl,” along with more than 1,500 other inmates performing in the background. To date, the “Thriller” video has garnered almost 15 million views to date. There’s even a Wikipedia article on the video itself!The prison now even has its own official choreographer teachers, like Vince Rosales and Gwen Laydor. Some prisoners are chosen more prominently for more sophisticated routines while the general prison population (sometimes up to 1500 inmates) participate with simpler more accessible routines.

So if dancing can change the lives of these inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, imagine what it can do for you. So if you haven’t tried dancing, it’s not too late. You never know where it might lead you.

Here are more video performances from the inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.

I Will Follow Him
Haruhi Dance
“Canon in D – Pachabel”
Soulja Boy
“Jump”
Radio Gaga
Do The Hustle
Jumbo Hotdog
“Rico Mambo” 2