At least 12,000 people danced at the Esplanade here in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest dance class which was set in Cebu, the Philippines last year where 7,700 people took part.

Last night's participants ranged from adorable three-year-olds to the elderly in their 70s engaged in 10 minutes of non-stop synchronised dance movements.

Photo: The Star

Event organiser CreatiVision D. C. Bhd's managing director Adelyn Lim said: "The attempt was successful in terms of numbers. We had between 12,000 and 13,000 people. We will send the video to England to verify the numbers. It will take a month."

The feat, which was in support of Unicef, started at 10pm. Dance instructors were also on the field to assist on-the-spot participants who lacked the right moves.

The event was held in conjunction with the state's PG2010 - 1 Pop @ d Heritage, George Town New Year countdown concert which saw a crowd of about 100,000 converging on the Esplanade.

A participant, who only wished to be known as Mrs Wong, 60, said she was taking in the cool breeze at the Esplanade after dinner with her friends when she came across the booth promoting the event.

"My friends and I just made an impromptu decision to take part in the feat and we have no regrets because now we are proud that we had helped Penang in an attempt to break a world record," she said.

Student Wong Kah Hung, 20, from Kuala Lumpur, who heard about the event from a friend, said she had never dreamt of being a part of such an interesting event which not only created history for Penang but for the country.

"I consider it as an honour and my New Year gift to Malaysia," she said.