The Naked Surfer joins some cool inhabitants of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Philippines, in paying tribute to Jacko.
Courtesy of Sony Entertainment & YouTube.com
The now famous “dancing inmates” of the Cebu maximum security prison make headlines again when they were given some dancing lessons by the late Jackson’s long-time choreographer, Travis Payne, and dancers, Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid.
Payne led about 1,200 inmates in their prison outfit of orange trousers and black shirts in a spectacular dance routine to the tune of some of Jackson’s hits.
The four-minute, 26-second film has more than 2.7 million hits (to date) since Sony Entertainment uploaded it on the video sharing website, YouTube, on January 22 ahead of the company’s global release of the late superstar's “This is It” DVD.
The Cebu prisoners first gained fame around the world when a clip of them dancing to Jackson's “Thriller” hit was posted on YouTube in 2007. It has since generated 37.5 million hits on YouTube. This was followed by other dance routines, which generated a cult following for the inmates.
The jail’s officials started the dance exercise to help ease tensions among the inmates and improve their chances at rehabilitation, not realising that such a simple act would propel both the prison and its inhabitants to the realm of “celebrities”.
