Crowd sets record for twerking in Herald Square

Hundreds of people gathered in Herald Square Wednesday to set the Guinness World Record for the most people twerking at the same time for two minutes.

A total of 358 people  gathered Wednesday to twerk for two minutes straight, in a massive dance phenomenon organized by the music channel Fuse and New Orleans musician Big Freedia. Fuse reported that the participants ranged in age from 8 to 80.

A Guinness judge bestowed the record on the group, according to Fuse. A total of only 250 people had been required to set the record.

Twerking is a dance move in which the dancer shakes his or her hips in an up-and-down bouncing movement, causing the dancer’s buttocks to shake.

The Oxford English Dictionary, which added the word “twerk” just last month, defines it as to “dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.”

Miley Cyrus gave notoriety for a suggestive twerking performance alongside Robin Thicke at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Barclays Center last month.

One woman showed twerking was not just for the younger folks.

“It was a wonderful experience today,” she said. “I went to buy sheets in Macy’s, and they let me in, and I’m just dancing my life away here. It was just great.”

There were specific rules in place for the event. Participants’ bodies had to remain upright with movement concentrated in their hips, with the twerking action coming from their knees and hips only. And anyone who failed to keep going for the full two minutes was to be deducted from the total.