Revisiting the Dancing Prisoners Perform Jackson's Thriller

The Dancing Prisoners from the Philippines were shocked and saddened by the death of Jackson. The inmates just performed their popular “Thriller” dance for the delegates of the Philippine International Tourism Fair,a few hours before their idol died.

“I am shocked, the inmates are still in grief after learning that their idol is already dead,” said Capitol Consultant Byron Garcia as reported by the Manila Bulletin. Tourists from Europe, Australia and Asia gathered around the provincial jail in Cebu, Philippines to watch 1,500 dancing inmates perform their classic dance on "Thriller" on Saturday, a day after Michael Jackson died from cardiac arrest. The dancing prisoners also added dance interpretations of other Jackson hits such as "I'll Be There", "We Are The World", and "Ben", which they choreographed overnight. The performance,originally part of a physical fitness and stress-relief regime, became a worldwide hit and is now considered as one of the top five mostly viewed video on YouTube, with over 25.4 million views. Because of the “Thriller” dance, the inmates became instant celebrities as news about their dancing steps were reported in Yahoo,CNN, BBC, NBC, and other international media outlets.