Welsh folk dancer’s astonishing feat sets new Guinness World Record

You’ve probably never seen anything like this before – and quite possibly never will again.

Welsh folk dancer Tudur Phillips came out on top in a St David’s Day-inspired Welsh dance medley record attempt as part of Visit Wales’s #RandomActsofWelshness.

His new record for the fastest Welsh stepdance medley was set with a time of 28.47 seconds, smashing the required minimum by over 45 seconds.

At the beautiful Norwegian Church Arts Centre, right on Cardiff Bay, UK, four competitors were summoned to try and beat this new record title based upon traditional Welsh folk dancing.

One after another, the four dancers had to complete five different steps which were:

Five candles extinguished by heel clicks
10 clap cycles (clap in front of the body, under the left leg, behind the back, and under the right leg)
10 legs over broomstick
20 pit pats
10 jumps over a handkerchief

Guinness World Records Adjudicator William Sinden was in attendance to ensure all the steps were completed correctly.

The four competitors – Dion Jones, Abel Rees, Daniel Jones and the aforementioned Phillips – came from all across Wales in an attempt to break this record.

Everyone had up to three attempts to set their best time, and all their personal bests were set on the very last run, setting up a tense finale!

Abel’s best time was 48.5 seconds as he struggled with extinguishing the candles on his attempt, with the wooden floor making getting a good grip difficult in traditional Welsh clogs.

Dion’s last run meant he finished with a time of 30.60 seconds and Daniel’s best time was 29.33 seconds, meaning both 2nd and 3rd place finished almost within two seconds of the eventual record-setting time.

Tudur became a two-time Guinness World Records title holder after setting a record in 2020 for the most candles extinguished by jump heel clicks in one minute with 55.

“I wasn’t expecting this at all,” he said.

“Going against the young guys who can jump for longer and faster and higher, but I am a little bit competitive.”

But what did he think was the hardest part of the record?

He confessed: “Going from one trick to the other so fast and counting the right amount, not wasting an extra one but concentrating and then going all out at the end.”