What’s a Michael Jackson anniversary without the dancing Filipino inmates?
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Michael Jackson made them famous. Now the inmates at the high-security Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines will pay tribute to the singer a year and a day after his death, ABS-CBN reports, inviting about 300 guests into the prison for a one-hour dance show Saturday. A smaller group of dancers and former inmates also performed Friday at a tribute in Cebu City.
A video of the inmates’ 1,500-person dance to “Thriller” was released in July 2007 and quickly became an international hit on YouTube. (The prison started using dance for rehabilitation and recreation in 2006.)
In January, in conjunction with the DVD launch of “This Is It,” the inmates got a visit from Jackson choreographer Travis Payne and two dancers from the film, who taught them a new routine, seen below. The original prison-yard “Thriller” is after the break.
-- Christie D’Zurilla
The original prison-yard “Thriller” video:
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