Philippines: Popular dancing videos

Global Voices has featured several dancing videos from the Philippines. The most famous video is still the Dancing Prisoners from Cebu featuring inmates dancing the Thriller song of the late Michael Jackson.

A dancing video can also be a protest action and this was proven by the Dancing Filipina Maids in Hong Kong. They were protesting the plan of politicians led by the Philippine president to amend the 1987 Constitution.

This month, budget carrier Cebu Pacific surprised passengers when female flight attendants began to dance while giving airline safety instructions.

The video of the dancing flight attendants became popular worldwide but it also generated controversy when women groups denounced the stunt as sexist. This didn’t stop the company from coming up with a new dancing video; but this time, only male flight attendants were seen dancing

Cebu is the queen city of the southern part of the Philippines. It is famous for its white sand beaches, dried mangoes and now, dancing videos. But before the dancing youtube videos became a global hit, Cebu officials often welcome arriving dignitaries by dancing in airports.

There is a new Cebu dancing video which features the city’s tax collectors. The aim is to encourage citizens to pay their taxes on time and to thank honest taxpayers. Here is the video of the Dancing Tax Collectors

Gogol Da Blog provides links to various dancing videos from the Philippines. Aside from the videos mentioned above, there are also dancing videos of traffic enforcers, nurses, engineering students, workers, soldiers, SWAT, doctors, cops, and port workers.

Here are some twitter reactions:

levimak: amusing, the phlippines becoming world's dance capital, dancing inmates,dancing flight attendants, dancing tax collectors,then tax evaders?
sassymaco: Wow. Everybody's dancing in the Philippines: inmates, gasoline boys, traffic enforcers, tax collectors, etc.
mysiRYAN: On my way to terminal 3 going to gensan via cebu pacific. Hopefully I'll see that dancing FA's.
jen_thebitch: @gurushivaker i dont like the dancing flight attendants. prng eeewww.. :)

On Facebook:

Caselle Legaspi Ilano Dancing flight attendants, dancing inmates and now, dancing tax collectors….I just love Cebu! I'm wishing for dancing traffic enforcers next?
Joma Punzalan puro nalang dancing…inmate, tax collector, policeman….eh kung bumbero kaya…sasayaw muna bago bumomba…..me matuwa kaya? (will people laugh if firemen will dance too)

Recipes for Distraction does not like the idea of forcing employees to dance

I hate it when employers force their employees to do things they would otherwise not do. Especially dance.

Are we really a dancy nation? Is this the message we want to get across to the rest of the world. Is it just all about the trembling joy of uploading the video to YouTube, getting a million hits after a week?

Me, the only group of peeps I'd like to see dancing on the job are elevator operators. Kidding.

Laiza Penaranda cites modern technology for the popularity of the videos

Filipinos have always been getting in the world’s limelight for quite a time. And for almost four years now, the dancing Filipinos never got to fail in catching the attention of other races around the globe.

Modern technology really helped to raise the popularity of the said “dance groups”. Our country that is known to have a variety of colorful traditions, from delicious foods to well-designed clothes, from scenic places to lively fiestas, we can now be called The Dancing Philippines

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