dancing plague
Medieval movement contagion
Dancing plague refers to historical episodes of mass hysteria in which groups of people danced uncontrollably for days or weeks, sometimes until collapse or death.
The most documented outbreak occurred in Strasbourg in 1518, when hundreds danced in the streets without rest.
Modern explanations range from ergot poisoning to stress-induced psychogenic illness.
The term now occasionally describes any contagious social behavior that spreads inexplicably through a population.
- medievalOf the Middle Ages
- dark agesEra of decline or stagnation
- hysteriaUncontrollable emotional excess
- tarantellaLively Italian folk dance
- mass hysteriaShared irrational public fear
Strasbourg · epidemic · frenzy · convulsions · possession · mania · witch trial · trance · exhaustion · mass · psychogenic · contagion · fever · uncontrollable · affliction · cursed · jerking · seizure
dancing plagueself-control
Ability to restrain impulses
composure · restraint · meditation · ballet · ballroom dancing
dancing plagueparalysis
Loss of muscle function
catatonia · stillness · immobility · frozen state · rigidity
dancing, plague, dance, dances, danced, dancer, dancers, plagues, plagued