Nigerian dancer breaks record with week-long dance marathon

Nigerian dancer Benjamin Daniel, known as Ben Dancer, has finished a seven-day dance marathon in Lagos. He danced for more than 176 hours in his attempt to set a new Guinness World Record.

Daniel wrapped up his challenge around noon on Tuesday at Freedom Park, Lagos. He continued dancing for over nine hours past the seven-day mark, which he hit around 3am.

His team reported that the timer showed seven days, eight hours, 32 minutes and 59 seconds when he finished. The 33-year-old aimed for 168 hours in order to break the current Guinness World Record for the longest dance marathon by one person, which is 127 hours.

But Guinness World Records has not yet confirmed Daniel as the new record holder. The organization stated that his application is active and they will review the evidence from his attempt before making it official.

“Benjamin’s application is active and we now eagerly await submission of his evidence, which will then go through our official review and verification process before any record can be confirmed,” a spokesperson from Guinness World Records told the BBC.

After finishing the tough challenge, Daniel was taken to the hospital for a check-up. Many supporters came to Freedom Park to watch and cheer him on during the entire seven-day performance.

Daniel has 18 years of experience in professional dancing. He included different Nigerian dance styles and music genres in his performance. Afrobeats played a big role, along with fuji, jazz, and zouk. He also wore traditional Nigerian clothes, such as agbada and dashiki.

His team said the performance aimed to show off Nigeria’s cultural variety and different dance traditions. Before the attempt, Daniel trained hard and changed his diet to handle the physical demands of the marathon.

During the challenge, he had five minutes of rest for every hour he danced continuously. Medical staff were there to monitor him. He made sure to stay hydrated and ate light meals while dancing.

The current Guinness World Record of 127 hours was set by Indian dancer Srushti Sudhir Jagtap in 2023. Daniel's evidence will now go to Guinness World Records for review and verification before it can be counted as a new record.