
Dancing mania - kaffeemitsahne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania
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zawerf
> Scientists have described dancing mania as a "collective mental disorder",
> "collective hysterical disorder", and "mass madness".

You can call it a disorder but it's also human nature. I can see this instance
being classified as a modern outbreak:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ)

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cs702
_" Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St. John's Dance
and, historically, St. Vitus's Dance) was a social phenomenon that occurred
primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved
groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time. The mania
affected men, women, and children who danced until they collapsed from
exhaustion."_

The complexity of human behavior never ceases to amaze me. The more I learn
about it, the more I realize how little I know. Here we have numerous
documented instances, over several centuries, of people dancing maniacally,
unable to stop themselves until they collapse from exhaustion. WTF?

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pjc50
There's an awful lot of strange stuff in history. If you like this you'll
enjoy
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusion...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds)
(1841)

It even has a section on memes, entitled "Popular follies of great cities".

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cs702
Thanks. I read MacKay's book many years ago. Its accounts are not always
historically accurate or well-documented, but it's a great read --
particularly its descriptions of Tulip Mania, the South Sea Bubble, and the
Mississippi Bubble.

That said, I still can't quite fathom how or why a crowd of human beings will
suddenly burst into dance, and do it until their bodies collapse from
exhaustion.

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creep
Have you ever just ran until you couldn't run anymore, for reasons other than
physical activity itself? There's a point at which you _feel_ you could go
further, and in fact know you can, but you choose to stop because the
discomfort and exhaustion at that point outweighs the purpose of the run. I
can imagine and speculate this is what is meant. The dancers exhausted the
point of the dance, and then would fall to the ground for quickest relief,
just as you might throw yourself onto a bench after a spontaneous, excess-
driven sprint.

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otterpro
At first, I thought it was a joke or a fake post, especially with: "music was
often played while participants danced, as that was believed to be an
effective remedy" but "music encouraged others to join in however, and thus
effectively made things worse". I'd assume that music would encourage dancing,
but perhaps that was not the norm during those days.

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pavel_lishin
Maybe they tried to play something difficult to dance to, or something timed
to mis-match the dancers' cadence?

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apeace
> In Italy, a similar phenomenon was tarantism, in which the victims were said
> to have been poisoned by a tarantula or scorpion. Its earliest known
> outbreak was in the 13th century, and the only antidote known was to dance
> to particular music to separate the venom from the blood.

Perhaps it was something similar to this. It sounds like they were shooting in
the dark with various different "antidotes".

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dragontamer
I always thought that this D&D Spell was silly, but maybe it was based on this
"Dancing Mania":

[http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/spells/irres...](http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/spells/irresistibleDance.html)

> The subject feels an undeniable urge to dance and begins doing so, complete
> with foot shuffling and tapping. The spell effect makes it impossible for
> the subject to do anything other than caper and prance in place. The effect
> imposes a –4 penalty to Armor Class and a –10 penalty on Reflex saves, and
> it negates any AC bonus granted by a shield the target holds. The dancing
> subject provokes attacks of opportunity each round on its turn. A successful
> Will save reduces the duration of this effect to 1 round.

For those who haven't played D&D: a level 8 spell is outrageously powerful.
Resurrection is a level 7 spell (restoring life to a dead person, even if
their body has been mutilated). While "Raise Dead" is a level 5 spell
(Restoring life to a dead person, so long as their body hasn't been
mutilated). Teleportation across hundreds of miles is accomplished at level 5
spell level. Indeed, "Limited Wish" is a level 7 spell.

So level 8 spells are SERIOUSLY powerful magic. A level of spellcasting that
is beyond the abilities of most players, and is basically reserved for the end
of very long campaigns.

So "force a guy to dance" has always been silly IMO. But the thought of
historical accuracy with regards to "Dancing Mania" has changed my opinion. It
would be downright terrifying if fellow villagers suddenly were forced to
dance, seemingly unconsciously.

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crispytx
Sounds fucking lit!

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danans
Perhaps someone was just throwing down a really slick bassline.

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majestik
Sounds like a rave.

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jacquesm
Not really, at a rave they don't die unless it is in exceptional cases.

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ithinkso
Every now and then dancing mania article pops out here or there and every time
I'm reading it I wonder how much of it is exaggerated after telling and
retelling this stories or even as a warning of sorts that such 'dirty',
spontaneous rave may be deadly so should not be performed by a righteous
christian (considering that it happened mainly in Europe between 7th and 17th
century)

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viraptor
So basically a medieval version of Footloose? "Dancing is the work of the
devil. It will bring great evils upon our town and our people!"

