Seasoned hosts and service industry pros know the temptation all too well: How many wineglasses can you carry when cleaning up after a large party?
While the typical busboy's dilemma lands somewhere between a handful and a trayful, Aristotelis Valaoritis of Cyprus can carry enough for an entire Big Fat Greek Wedding reception.
Last month, not only did he carry 319 wineglasses at once, but he carried them on his head … while dancing, earning himself what has become a competitive Guinness World Record on the eastern Mediterranean island nation.
New record: Most wine glasses balanced on the head - 319 by Aristotelis Valaoritis (Cyprus) 🍷
Come for the balancing, stay for the smash at the end 😅 pic.twitter.com/9lStjoSAZy
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) October 19, 2023
New record: Most wine glasses balanced on the head - 319 by Aristotelis Valaoritis (Cyprus) 🍷
Come for the balancing, stay for the smash at the end 😅 pic.twitter.com/9lStjoSAZy
The Glass Dancing Tradition Explained
Believe it or not, glass dancing, aka tatsia, began as a mating ritual. The dance, in which as many wineglasses as possible are balanced by hand or on one's head while dancing a series of intricate footwork and hand routines, was invented in Cyprus as a competitive way for men to impress women. Presumably a successful effort, glass dancing in Cyprus has evolved into a treasured and proud tradition for locals, and a big draw for tourists.
Valaoritis, 62, who set the new Guinness World Record for Most Wine Glasses Balanced on the Head in October, has been glass dancing for almost 30 years. It took nine trays to support the hundreds of glasses balanced atop his head, and the glasses and trays together weighed more than 65 pounds. And while dancing is not a requirement for this particular world record, Valaoritis couldn't help himself.
“I enjoy doing it,” he told Guinness World Records after besting the previous record of 270 glasses, set in 2022 by one of his countrymen. “I see the spectators’ faces full of tension and agony, like they’re watching a movie.”
If you, too, would like to prepare yourself for stacking hundreds of fragile glasses on your head, Valaoritis said his neck-strengthening routine includes suspending a 110-pound barrel of sand from a tree branch and balancing it on his head for 5-minute intervals.
Are There More Competitive Wine Glass Carrying World Records?
Cyprus isn't the only place where folks enjoy the "tension and agony" of a fine crystal balancing act. Sommeliers across the globe are frequently tasked with setting up and then cleaning up large wine tastings, and maximizing their per-hand wineglass capacity can be a real timesaver.
Most of us aren't even 100 percent confident how to hold a single wineglass, but in 2007, a sommelier in Barcelona stacked and carried 39 wineglasses in one hand. It didn't stop there: In 2012, international wine pro Philip Osenton, former head sommelier at the Savoy in London, superhumanly carried first 45 and then later 51 wineglasses at once, a record that seemingly stands to this day. Osenton is now a Chicago-area wine consultant if any aspiring Luke Glasswalkers are looking for their Obi-Wine Kenobi.
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