Many instances of uncontrolled or threatening dancing were recorded in Germany, France, and other parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Though it is now the most famous example, Strasbourg was not the only "dance plague" to hit Europe during the medieval and early modern era. Both have used the idea of choreomania (as the phenomenon was later dubbed) to create highly immersive works that meditate on constraint and rapture. This week, two major works themed around dance plagues are being released: pop star Florence + The Machine's album Dance Fever, and bestselling author Kiran Millwood Hargrave's The Dance Tree. It is an event that grips us to this day, inviting retellings, and inspiring artists and creatives to put their own spin on these strange happenings. In the 400 or so years since this bizarre event – Strasbourg's so-called "dance plague" – occurred, many theories have been proffered to explain what exactly happened. "All this was of no avail, and many danced themselves to death." Another mentions more direct arrangements made for the dancers to tire them into submission, with "persons… specially appointed to dance with them for payment, to the music of drums and pipes". One writer describes dancers being carted off to St Vitus's shrine outside the city, where they are "given small crosses and red shoes". Further chronicles outline the measures taken by the authorities in response. A poem taken from a contemporary chronicle describes "women and men who dance and hop…/ In the public market, in alleys and streets,/ Day and night" until the "sickness" finally stops. They dance as if compelled, feet bloodied and limbs twitching.
Like her, they cannot explain themselves. Her heart keeps the tempo, working hard to make the motion continue.īy the time she is taken away, it is too late. She dances for nearly a week, felled occasionally by exhaustion but largely undaunted by the body's other warning signs: pain, hunger, shame. They watch a woman who will not, cannot, stop. At first those around her only watch, curiosity piqued by this unusual public display.
On a sweltering summer's day in July 1518 a woman called Frau Troffea steps into a square in Strasbourg and begins to dance. Extreme cold is followed by extreme heat, which is followed, inevitably, by extreme hunger. Like all good plague stories, this one begins with omens.
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