TO "dance the night away" is when you're having so much fun that you dance all night long.
To dance one's life away, however, is another matter entirely – where the dancers have no control over their actions and dance themselves to death.
As scary and weird as that sounds, did this really happen, and is it true that the condition is contagious as well?
Verdict:
True
In July 1518, residents of Strasbourg, France were struck by a sudden and seemingly uncontrollable urge to dance.
The hysteria kicked off when a woman known as Frau Troffea waltzed into the street and began to move around in what many would call a dance.
She did not stop. She could not.
The townspeople watched in horror as she danced in the summer heat without stopping for a beat and kept at it for nearly a week.
Soon after, one by one, random people would join the "party".
Before long, some three dozen people were in Frau Troffea's troupe, all in a trance-like state.
They were all shaking, twirling, flailing, swaying... and dying.
Bear in mind, this was way before Coachella.
Baffled and with no other possible explanation, physicians concluded that the phenomenon was due to “hot blood”, when the blood in the brain is overheated.
The cure? More dancing.
They believed that those affected had to keep moving to get the mysterious disease out of their system.
A stage was constructed and professionals, from dancers to band members, were brought in.
As many died from exhaustion, heat stroke and heart attacks, more become afflicted, joining the march of the black parade.
The morbid performance went on for two months with over 400 people affected, and ended when the "dancers" were whisked away to a mountaintop shrine to pray for absolution.
The Strasbourg dancing plague is historically documented but not the only known incident.
Similar cases occurred across Europe, though not as severe.
Modern-day experts have several theories about the cause of the manic dance revolution.
Some said it was a fungal consumption that caused hallucinations, others said it was hunger-induced hysteria.
A few blamed it on the supernatural while others claimed it was the work of a cult.
To this day, the actual cause remains unknown.
Reference:
https://www.britannica.com/
https://web.archive.org/web/
https://publicdomainreview.
https://www.thelancet.com/
