Today we're talking about choreomania.
The Dancing Plague
Hello, and welcome to "What the What"
the show about fun facts and
a little bit of science. You ever get a
song stuck in your head and
no matter what you do, you just can't get
it out?
[singing] "in the middle of the night"
Imagine that scenario, but you're not
just humming it 24/7
you're dancing! [singing] "in the middle of the
night"
It's July 1518 in Strasbourg, France.
A woman known as Frau Troffea...
I just don't speak-a da French. I'm an
idiot.
... is seen twisting and shaking down the
streets of Strasbourg.
She continues this for days and, after
nearly a week, almost
30 people are seen in the streets
getting... "jiggy with it"... Do people still
say that?
And going from July to August this grew
to more than 400 people!
What do you do to help so many people
that can't stop dancing?
You make them dance more! duh
And, because physicians were so
knowledgeable in this time,
some would say that the peak of their
knowledge and has gone down since then.
They requested that the town build a
stage and hire a band.
Just sounds like a town that cares about
its people, you know?
Needless to say, this didn't help. In fact,
people were dying left and right.
They were exhausted,
dehydrated, and probably infected with
one of the many diseases that were in
the area at the time.
Many suffered from bloodied feet, heat
stroke,
and heart attacks. And, like any
government, after they
saw that their plan of music and dancing
didn't work
they banned it. No more music. No more
dancing.
And that brings us to the story of Ren
McCormick.
A young boy that rises up to fight this
ban so that his school can have their
senior prom.
Oh, no, that's just Footloose.
So, with the Town failing to have this
dance-off-to-heal
and failing at banning it (because let's
face it,
these people are uncontrollably dancing
they don't want to do it).
Nobody wants to dance until they're dead
It's important to know what life was
like in Strasbourg, France in 1518. I know
I'm saying that wrong... The town was
facing new diseases,
crops were dying, I mean it was extreme
famine,
wheat prices were going up, and the
orphanage and hospitals were overflowing.
With people
fearing that God was angry with them
they let their belief in Saint Vitos...
Vetus? Get the best of them. I know I'm
saying that wrong, too.
They believed that Saint Vitus, Vidis?
Could curse them with a dancing plague.
So,
in September, the dancers were takerr...uhhh
So, in September, the dancers were taken
to a shrine
where they prayed for healing. While
there have been several theories
throughout history as to what
happened to these people; from ergot
fungus
growing on rye to boiling blood, the most
likely
is Psychogenic Illness, also known as,
Mass Hysteria.
Basically, what this means is that the
traumatic state of the town,
the stress it was putting on the people,
and believing in something so deeply it
could affect your subconscious...
means the dancing disease wasn't
biological
it was mental. Which I guess is kind of
biological
But, wait a minute, could it be both?
Strasbourg,
France isn't the only known incident of
this happening.
Similar illnesses took place in
Switzerland
and in Germany. All of these countries being
along the Rhine
River. So, I don't know, maybe we should
just call it the Rhine
River Dance Plague. And in each instance
of this
plague it disappeared as quickly as it
appeared. And with the limited medical
knowledge at that time
we're left to speculate and make
educated guesses in hopes of
understanding.
As always, thanks for watching and be
sure to leave your thoughts down below.
What did you learn today? Have you ever
danced this hard? And
is this what burning man's like?
