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CPDRC Dancing Inmates

You might remember it as Cebu prison Thriller, dancing inmates Philippines

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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
Era
Early YouTube
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

  1. Posted

    An earlier routine by 967 inmates is uploaded. It is watched 400 times in eight months.1

  2. Posted

    Garcia uploads Thriller.1

  3. Record

    Time ranks it fifth in its list of the year’s viral videos.1

  4. Mainstream

    About 1,500 inmates perform a tribute to Michael Jackson.1

  5. Taken down

    The governor suspends the programme pending a review of how donations were accounted for.1

  6. Came back

    The dancers return, with Gangnam Style.1

LegacyWhat it left behind

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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.

View this upload on YouTube

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.

More from 2007You were there

More from early YouTubeMore of the archive

ConnectedFollow it further

SourcesWhat was read

  1. Wikipedia — CPDRC Dancing Inmates

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

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