CPDRC Dancing Inmates
You might remember it as Cebu prison Thriller, dancing inmates Philippines
Viral classics33 of 40
2007·Early YouTube·skill
Fifteen hundred prisoners in a Philippine jail performing Thriller in formation, filmed from a balcony.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Cebu prison Thriller
- Spread in
- 2007
- Began as
- A video upload
- Where it started
- youtube
- Format
- Video
- Where
- Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu City
- Uploaded by
- Byron Garcia, who ran the prison and began the dancing as an exercise routine
- Performed by
- Crisanto Nierre took Michael Jackson’s part
- Origin
- Origin not yet established
- Available
- Playable from the source
What this wasThe story
In the exercise yard of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, more than a thousand inmates in orange perform Michael Jackson's Thriller, in step, in a single unbroken overhead shot. Byron Garcia, the prison's security adviser, had introduced choreographed exercise as part of the regime and began putting the results online in 2006.
By January 2010 the Thriller video was among the ten most-watched on YouTube, with over twenty million views. The programme continued for years, drew tourists, and outlived the administration that started it. Michael Jackson's choreographer visited. The inmates were never paid.
Why it matteredWhat changed
Prisoners in a maximum-security jail in the Philippines danced to Thriller, and Time ranked the video fifth among the viral videos of 2007.
TimelineIn order
- Posted
An earlier routine by 967 inmates is uploaded. It is watched 400 times in eight months.1
- Posted
Garcia uploads Thriller.1
- Record
Time ranks it fifth in its list of the year’s viral videos.1
- Mainstream
About 1,500 inmates perform a tribute to Michael Jackson.1
- Taken down
The governor suspends the programme pending a review of how donations were accounted for.1
- Came back
The dancers return, with Gangnam Style.1
LegacyWhat it left behind
- Former prisoners have alleged that those who refused to dance were treated violently.1
More from hereIn this collection
RelatedMore like this
Records this one is explicitly related to — a copy, a remake, a parody, the same meme or the same maker.
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
This is the copy ViralWorld can show you. Whether it is the first is not established.
Where it came fromWhat we know
Original source uncertain. This is the earliest copy currently known.
No original upload has been established for this record. The index is showing the earliest copy it currently knows about, and says so rather than guessing.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
More from 2007You were there
More from early YouTubeMore of the archive
ConnectedFollow it further
- Refers to Gangnam StyleVideo · 2012
The inmates returned to public performance on 29 September 2012 with a routine to Gangnam Style.
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things