Guadalajara won the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest folkloric dance on Saturday.

Dressed in the colorful traditional dresses of the region, 882 dancers whirled to the Mexican folk song El jarabe tapatío, shattering the previous record by almost double.

The event was part of Guadalajara´s International Mariachi and Charrería Conference, which ends on September 2. Charrería is the local tradition of horsemanship and rodeo riding.

Achieved eight years ago with 457 dancers, the previous record was also held by Guadalajara.

Guinness adjudicator Carlos Tapia said there were initially 892 dancers in Saturday’s event, but 10 were disqualified for not adhering to the stipulations of dancing uninterruptedly for five consecutive minutes and not leaving the challenge site.

These types of feats are important for Tapia “because they mean that the whole world will recognize the cultural wealth of this beautiful country.”

Thousands of people gathered in Guadalajara’s historic center to bear witness to the record-breaking event and admire the beauty of the traditional costumes that fluttered to the rhythm of the mariachi music.

The women wore broad, brightly colored dresses and put their dark hair in braids, and the men wore the traditional charro cowboy suits.

The crowd and dancers cheered, and the mariachis struck up the folk song Guadalajara, Guadalajara, when the adjudicator announced the new record.

“We did it! We did it!” they shouted.

With the new record, Guadalajara boasts 11 of the 25 Guinness records held by the state of Jalisco.

Among them are the world’s biggest robotics class, the world’s biggest bead mosaic and the world’s biggest marzipan.

In total, Mexico holds 230 Guinness World Records.

Source: UDG TV (sp)