Dance marathons (or marathon dances) are events in which people dance or walk to music for an extended period of time. They started as dance contests in the 1920s and developed into human endurance contests, or exploitative entertainment events during the Great Depression in the 1930s. In the present day, dance marathons are commonly used as fundraisers. These modern marathons are usually 12–24 hours, a far cry from the 1000 hours marathons of the 1930s.
Origins
According to Professor Carol Martin of New York University, the revival of the Olympic Games created a widespread interest in feats of strength, endurance contests, and world records that led to dance marathons.
On February 18, 1923, Olie Finnerty and Edgar Van Ollefin set a record by dancing seven hours without stopping in Sunderland, England.
Twelve days later, dance instructor Alma Cummings set a new record at the Audubon Ballroom in New York. She danced continuously for 27 hours with six different partners. Within three weeks, her record was broken at least nine times across the United States.
As the prosperous 1920s faded into the struggling 1930s, dance marathons boomed and offered cash prizes equivalent to a year's salary. They provided contestants and spectators food, shelter and the opportunity to earn cash prizes at a time when many people needed a free meal. By the late 1930s, dance marathons had faded from the cultural landscape.
In her book Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture of the 1920s and 1930s, Carol Martin writes "in their heyday, dance marathons were among America’s most widely attended and controversial forms of live entertainment. The business employed an estimated 20,000 people as promoters, masters of ceremonies, floor judges, trainers, nurses and contestants." According to Martin, nearly every American city of 50,000 people or more hosted at least one endurance dance marathon at the peak of the craze. Women constituted up to 75 percent of dance marathon audiences.
Dance marathons have occurred in most large cities, such as M.D Crandall’s at Madison Square Garden. Smaller cities didn't have as many social issues compared to the contests in larger cities. Though promoters made less money in smaller towns, they looked for a place where a large crowd could fit in for the dance marathon, and the local community helped advertise. Most promoters were known to have bad business practices, such as not paying for the event bills and ditching the contestants. On the other hand, a few promoters like Hal Ross, made efforts for the events, and paid off the bills.
Rules and format
Participants had to remain upright and moving for 45 minutes out of every hour, around the clock.
A live band played at night, while a radio or record player often sufficed during the day. Contestants were expected to dance full-out during the heavily attended evening hours.
Every few hours a klaxon would sound and couples were allowed 15 minutes of rest in beds that were sometimes set up on the dance floor. These rest areas were segregated by sex. Contestants trained themselves to drop instantly into deep sleep as soon as their bodies touched the cots. Women who did not get up were given smelling salts and sometimes slapped. Male contestants who were slow to wake were often dunked in a tub of ice water. At times, couples were tucked on dog chains together like prisoners. "Cot Nights," in which the beds from the rest areas were pulled out into public view so the audience could watch the contestants even during their brief private moments, were popular.
Most marathon promoters fed contestants 12 times a day, although contestants were required to continue the shuffling dance motion while they ate. Although the meals were simple foods like eggs, oatmeal or toast, in a time of great hunger food was a powerful inducement to contestants. Many marathon contestants reported that, despite the constant motion, 12 meals a day meant that they actually gained weight. Once admission was paid, spectators could stay as long as they liked. Marathons took on an almost theatrical role for spectators, as spectators gained a sadistic sense of pleasure from watching the participants physically suffer.
Dancers could often be seen dozing off while their partners held them up to keep their knees from hitting the ground (which would result in disqualification). To encourage lagging couples to continue moving, the floor judge sometimes used a ruler to flick the legs of contestants who were not shuffling with sufficient alacrity.