12/03/2021
Congratulations to Phare Ponleu Selpak for setting New World Record!
Battambang: Phare sets a world record for Cambodia with its 24-hour circus performance – cheered on by more than a million fans online
History was made at 08.10 on 8th March, when 90 Cambodian circus performers took a final bow after a 24-hour continuous circus performance in a stunningly ambitious Guinness World Records attempt in the category of Longest Circus Show. The record attempt was also the launch of a fundraising appeal to save the organization, which has seen its funding slashed by COVID.
The 24-hour show included acts from 31 performances from Phare’s 20 year circus history, including acrobatics, magic, dance, theatre, clowning, music, contortion, singing, puppetry, breakdancing, live painting, unicycling, fire acts and so much more. The performers took to the stage in shifts, making sure there were no repetitions and that they were able to take rests between performances.
24 independent witnesses including teachers and monks took turns to supervise the performance by the artists of the education and arts non-profit Phare Ponleu Selpak and its sister circus organization Phare, The Cambodian Circus. There were more than 800,000 views of the Facebook broadcasts from the record attempt, which were made available through our partner Cellcard’s pages throughout the 24-hour performance. In addition there were always at least fifty audience members present, all with temperatures checked and wearing masks.
“Why my tears are dropping like a river? Feel so blessed! Proud of you all” said Ya Nuon of Cambodia on Facebook, while watching the record being set.