Sunday at 2 p.m., dancers of all levels and ages succeeded in breaking the Guinness World Record for the Largest Ballet Class. The Oregon Ballet Foundation beat South African Ballet Theatre’s record of 551 by 27 participants at McArthur Court, foundation member Megan Murphy said.

The foundation hosted its first attempt at breaking the record last year during National Dance Week, but it fell short of the record.
Prior to the class’ start, Mac Court came to life with classical music, 35 bars and 578 thrilled dance students. Even the Oregon Duck couldn’t resist, posing with excited dancers for photos before class. Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy kicked up her foot to reveal a pink ballet slipper while giving the opening statement in support of the arts.
The class started about 15 minutes late because several dancers who were needed to break the record were tardy. Emcee Derek Johnson tried to persuade observers in the stands to become dancers and make the difference in breaking the record.
“I’m looking at people in the stage to come on down and dance,” said Johnson. “If you love the arts, you aren’t going to see anything better.”
But cheers burst through Mac Court as dancer number 552 entered the arena, and a scoreboard flashed “World’s Largest Ballet Class.”
Aquene Amarys brought her 8-year-old daughter Indigo Amarys to the event after seeing a poster.
“We thought that it would be cool to be a part of breaking a world record and we had nothing planned for today, so it fit,” Amarys said. Amarys’ daughter was introduced to ballet when she was five years old and doesn’t have much experience.
Wendy Gregory also said being a part of a Guinness World Record was part of her reason to attend.
“Breaking the record feels really cool because Guinness has been around for such a long time,” Gregory said. “To actually be a part of breaking a record is amazing. All the way from Eugene, what are the chances?” Gregory brought her 10-year-old daughter, who had no previous ballet experience.
Changes were put into place to increase participation numbers with the major change of lowering the price of admission from $15 to $5. The event raised money for a tuition-free boys’ ballet class. The class is part of an effort to increase male participation in ballet classes.
As for next year, Murphy stated that she would like to see another organization head up the event as it is a complex, time-consuming endeavor.
The process to confirm a Guinness World Record consists of counting the number of participants in three different ways, Murphy said. The foundation used nametags, signatures and tickets as participant measurability. Guinness World Records then takes the lowest number of these methods as the official participant number.