Cebu's "dancing inmates" to perform at Manila City Jail

NAGA CITY, CAMARINES SUR , Philippines  — In pioneering a crusade to institutionalize music therapy in jails, Cebu’s original “dancing inmates” will perform their first out-of-town tour at the Manila City Jail on March 26.

Byron Garcia, creator of the dancing inmates, in a disclosure to The STAR said that the pilot project will be held at the facilities of Manila City Jail at 10 in the morning.

He clarified that those who will perform are already released from prison or have posted bail for their offense.

BJMP chief Resendo M. Dial said the memorandum of agreement is a collaborative effort between BJMP and Garcia to institutionalize music therapy in jail facilities nationwide. Music therapy, which includes therapeutic dancing and singing, becomes the flagship component for BJMP’s inmate development program. The memorandum of agreement signing will take place at the Manila City Jail.

This memorandum of agreement literally lets the Cebu dancing inmates bring other inmates nationwide dancing and singing.

Garcia spoke on the success of the dancing inmates for the first time since his long silence after the release of the successful “This is it” video where Michael Jackson’s creative director and choreographer Travis Payne performed with the dancing inmates. The video is now posted on YouTube.

Garcia disclosed that it was a redemptive rehabilitation protocol that has been a key in the creation of the dancing inmates. He deplored how jail facilities nationwide and in other parts of the world are being called by other names like rehabilitation, penitentiaries and correctional if only to hide the living hell realities of these institutions.

“But no matter how jails are called, prisons by any name are still hell. It is a location in the map that governments would like to hide but cannot conceal,” he said. 

Known to be an agenda-setter Garcia said that the reason why prison facilities in the country have become “living hells” is because “those who are in penology and rehabilitation are missing out the essence of compassion, redemption and restoration in jail management.”

“We are too busy looking for creative ways to punish an offender instead of restoring him to become the human being that he is. We have to look at prisons beyond the cycle of crime and punishment and certainly look inside underlying social, cultural and scriptural implications of rehabilitation. As it is, those creative ways of punishing offenders that have led to restrictive and punitive conditions in jails have also bred demons out of prisoners,” Garcia underscored. 

The former Capitol consultant on security said that this therapeutic protocol of dance and music is meant to restore dignity to people who suffer the stigma of incarceration and restore self-esteem to inmates because they are alienated from society. — Ruth G. Mercado/WAB    (FREEMAN NEWS)