On Friday when a selected group of 120 dancers gathered at the SILVERBIRD STUDIOS in Lekki, Lagos, Nigerians only had an inkling of the history about to be made. At 6pm on Friday 29th September 2006 when the countdown clock signaled the start of the Silverbird Dance Party, few of the participants were talking about the world record. the unasked question on the mind of the dancers was: how long can we endure? Many thought it would be an overnight affair, but 24 hours later, many dancers were still strong.
Two days later, on Sunday evening, only the strongest could be found on the dance floor. Two days of non-stop dancing had taken its toll on body, mind and spirit. Even though the dancers had been pre-qualified with a fitness test, from over 2000 contestants that showed up at the national stadium, Surulere, Lagos, it was still a medical challenge. Still, the remaining dancers pressed on toward the goal. The world record at the time was 53 hours and 3 minutes set by Heart Health Hop in the rock n roll Hall of Fame , USA on 31st July, 2003.
Later that Sunday evening, a nation cheered when the old world record was surpassed by the remaining dancers. The next challenge was to find the last dancer standing. the dancer who would bag the big cash prize. The show continued. 7 dancers battled on. 5 ladies and 2 guys. If you thought you knew the stronger gender, think again. The social media chat rooms, which had been buzzing since the screening of over 2000 participants, went into overdrive. who would win? Are they dancing for the fame? Is it for the money? The rules of the competition for entry into the Guinness Book of world records permits a break of 5 minutes every hour. Contestants are also permitted to accumulate their breaks for necessities such as lavatory stops, ablutions, eating, drinking or having a massage. The organizer provided facilities to satisfy the break requirements in a marqueeset up adjacent to the dance marathon studio. In the early hours of Monday morning, a winner emerged. A professional dancer and choreographer named KAFFY had led her Zebra team to the group prize of two million naira.
Kaffy also bagged the individual prize of #1.5 million. Miss Sandra Aghaizu, in the attendance as the Guinness World record representatives, made the official announcement at 00:38hours. The dancers could finally get some rest assured of their place in history.
You wanna dance. Rehearsals now on at Lekki Shoprit every Wednesday.