A Nigerian dancer, Benjamin Daniel Gabriel, popularly known as Ben Dancer, has completed a seven-day solo dance marathon in Lagos in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Records mark….
A Nigerian dancer, Benjamin Daniel Gabriel, popularly known as Ben Dancer, has completed a seven-day solo dance marathon in Lagos in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Records mark.
The 32-year-old dancer, who performs with musician Made Kuti, grandson of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, danced continuously for 176 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds by Tuesday.
Gabriel’s feat is aimed at surpassing the current record of 127 hours, set by Indian dancer Srushti Sudhir Jagtap in 2023 at the age of 16.
The dance marathon took place around Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, with dozens of supporters joining Gabriel at various points as he danced to Afrobeats, Makossa and Fela’s music.
His assistant, Mercy Idisi, said the biggest challenge was coping with sleep deprivation.
“Dance is spiritual to him. The only challenge we have is mentally, especially with sleep deprivation,” she told AFP.
Gabriel began preparing for the record attempt in 2022, undergoing gym sessions, endurance and pain training, as well as exercises designed to help him cope with prolonged periods without sleep.
His preparations were briefly threatened by a knee problem that developed three weeks before the attempt, but a doctor who attended to him, Chika Anagoba, said he did not suffer any major health complaints during the seven-day challenge.
During the marathon, Gabriel ate lightly, drank coconut water and observed the permitted five minutes of rest for every continuous hour of activity.
He sometimes accumulated the rest periods and danced for several hours before taking a break.
Gabriel, who started dancing at 12, said the pursuit was about more than setting a world record.
“The idea of the Guinness World Record was never for the record itself,” he said.
“It was to get the global attention for people to look more towards African indigenous dances.”
He said his journey into dance began as a way of escaping peer pressure and a family crisis before he eventually received formal training.
Gabriel’s attempt comes amid a growing interest in Guinness World Records challenges in Nigeria, particularly since Hilda Baci’s cooking marathon in 2023.
Guinness World Records said it received about 1,500 applications from Nigeria in the months following Baci’s record.
Other Nigerians who have set records include chess player Tunde Onakoya, wig maker Helen Williams and Munachimso Brian Nwana, who visited 150 fast-food restaurants in 24 hours.
Gabriel said he hopes his achievement will help promote African culture and indigenous dance globally.
“This means I can achieve great things from small places, and that I can change the world with dance,” he said.
His record is still subject to official validation by Guinness World Records.
