Inmates pay tribute to peace heroes
By Hayde Quiñanola
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 07:51:00 04/27/2008
Even a prison detainee can groove to pay homage to heroes.
Inmates of the Cebu provincial jail yesterday presented their latest dance routine, a five-minute tribute to 15 advocates of peace.
They shook their bodies to the beat of Bonnie Tyler's "I Need a Hero.
They honored several world figures -- Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Martin Luther King, Lady Dianna and the country's national hero, Jose Rizal.
Capitol consultant on security Byron Garcia said the new dance number was a way of advocating non-violence as part of the prison rehabilitation program.
Under cloudy skies, male and female inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), including a few members of the gay communitiy, showed off their new choreography in the jail’s quadrangle.
Halfway into the show, some inmates carried large pictures of the 15 heroes.
John Lennon of the Beatles and scientist Albert Einstein were included. Lennon, a peace activist, wrote the son “Imagine”.
"Einstein used the atomic bomb to balance terror to achieve peace," said Garcia.
Garcia said Rosa Parks was included as the first black woman who stood up against racial discrimination.
Spectators cheered and applauded the performance, with a few trying out the dance steps themselves.
The 90-minute program included folk dance steps of Dayang-Dayang and the swaying movements of ballroom dancing.
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