April 19, 2023
PHNOM PENH – Cambodia on April 15 broke its own Guinness World Record for the largest Madison dance, involving 4,999 participants as part of Angkor Sangkran celebrations during the Khmer New Year holiday in Siem Reap province’s Angkor Archaeological Park, as confirmed by the international organisation.
This comes just four days after Guinness World Record officials confirmed that a so-called “garden of hearts” within the Angkor Wat complex broke the record for largest display of origami hearts, constituting 3,917,805 individual pieces collected from all over the country.
According to Columbus Music History, the Madison dance was an internationally popular line dance that is said to have been first created in Columbus, Ohio of the US in 1957.
The April 15 Madison dance event was held at the Terrace of the Elephants, breaking a 2015 record of 2,015 participants that was also set during Angkor Sangkran festivities.
The event was presided over by Hun Many, head of the Angkor Sangkran Organising Committee and president of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia (UYFC) – the same organisation behind the record-breaking origami heart display.
“Khmers can do it,” Many said in a statement, expressing gratitude to the 4,999 participants as well as to all the men and women that “made this record-breaking accomplishment possible”.
“Under the roof of one Cambodian family, with one heart, Cambodian youth have set a world record for the largest Madison dance, for the motherland, which is a great honour and a prestige for the entire Cambodian nation,” he said in a press release.
The April 15 Madison dance event was held at the Terrace of the Elephants, breaking a 2015 record of 2,015 participants that was also set during Angkor Sangkran festivities. UYFC
The organising committee said that breaking the old Madison dance record served “to show the world that Cambodia’s solidarity, capabilities and possibilities are growing day by day, as per the slogan: ‘Khmers can do it’”.
The record-breaking event was also said to underscore the “world-class spectacular scenery” and summon up “proud memories” among Cambodians, mark the welcome post-Covid-19 return of Angkor Sangkran, and offer foreign and national tourists as well as locals a novel form of entertainment for this year’s Khmer New Year celebrations.
Additionally, UYFC’s Many stated, the event sought to unite people from all age groups and walks of life for a common goal.