Nigerian dancer Benjamin Daniel Gabriel is seeking a new world record after completing seven days of continuous dancing in Lagos.
The 32-year-old, popularly known as Ben Dancer, danced for 176 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds, surpassing the current record of 127 hours set by Indian dancer Srushti Sudhir Jagtap in 2023.
Gabriel, who performs with musician Made Kuti, began preparing for the challenge in 2022 with intensive fitness, endurance and sleep-deprivation training.
Despite developing a knee problem weeks before the attempt, a doctor monitoring him said he suffered no major health complications during the seven-day challenge.
Supporters gathered at the venue, dancing and singing alongside him as he performed to Afrobeats, Makossa and other popular Nigerian music.
Gabriel said the feat showed that great things could be achieved from small beginnings, adding that he hoped to inspire others through dance.
Days after he began his quest, about 51,000 people gathered at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, the site of Nigeria’s official independence ceremony near Freedom Park where Gabriel was dancing to break the record for the largest attendance at a movie premiere.
As Fela’s jazzy songs faded, energetic Makossa songs by Congolese singer and drummer Awilo Longomba came on and Gabriel switched to a frenetic dance routine to match the tempo.
Dozens of people sang and danced along with him.
At one point, the small crowd synced with his movements as Afrobeats songs featuring popular dance steps filled the venue.
“Dance is spiritual to him,” his assistant Mercy Idisi told CliqMetro, while he danced away.
“The only challenge we have is mentally, especially with sleep deprivation.”
Gabriel’s preparation for the record attempt began in 2022, with gym routines to build muscle, pain and endurance training, and sleep deprivation exercises to get him in shape.
Three weeks before he began his attempt, Gabriel developed a problem with his knees, leaving organisers concerned about how it could affect his ambition.
But he did not suffer any major health complaints over the seven days of his dancing challenge, Chika Anagoba, a doctor who attended to him, said.
On the edge of where the small crowd danced, people from Gabriel’s home village in northern Bauchi state sat around on plastic chairs, eating Nigeria’s staple, jollof rice and coleslaw.
“We’ve always been here since the first day,” Ibrahim told CliqMetro. “We are so proud of him.”
“This means I can achieve great things from small places, and that I can change the world with dance,” Gabriel told CliqMetro after rounding up his quest.
– ‘Nigerians don’t come last’ –
Nigerians have developed an appetite for attempting new world records since 2023, when jollof chef Hilda Baci set the record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual.
Guinness World Records said it received about 1,500 applications from the country in the months following Baci’s record.
“Nigerians don’t come last in anything,” Tunde Onakoya, who holds the record for the longest chess marathon, told CliqMetro, as Gabriel danced in the background.
“By nature, Nigerians are also very daring and competitive,” Onakoya added.
“We like to test ourselves against the world that we are capable of all forms of greatness,” he said.
Other Nigerians to have set records include Helen Williams, who crafted the longest handmade wig at 351.28 metres (over 1,152 feet) in 2023, and Munachimso Brian Nwana, who visited 150 fast food restaurants in 24 hours, the most by anyone, according to Guinness.
Gabriel applied three times to Guinness World Records before he was given the go-ahead for his bid in February.
He said he started dancing at the age of 12 as a means of escaping peer pressure and family crisis and had to teach himself techniques and routines until he could be formally trained.
During the marathon, he ate lightly and drank coconut water, while taking the permitted five minutes of rest for every continuous hour of activity, though he chose to accumulate the rest time and dance for several hours at a time before taking his break.
“I’m so proud of him,” said Onakoya, who clocked 60 hours of chess marathon in 2024.
Still waiting for the official validation of his record, Gabriel is already itching to take on a bigger role in promoting African culture and dances.
“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.”