Murder on the dance floor: Shocking photos from 1920s America show competitive dancers 'dead on their feet' after months-long marathons before the sinister fad was BANNED

  • Dance marathons began in 1920s and saw couples try to remain on their feet
  • The 'walkathons' drew large crowds and the contests spread across America 
  • However it encouraged dancers to push their shattered bodies to the limit
  • It exploded back into life during Great Depression but with a darker side to it
  • Couples now entered the competitions and danced for weeks on end, desperate to win a potential cash prize, or simply for the promise of food or medical care

By THOMAS BURROWS FOR MAILONLINE

Published: | Updated:

Collapsed against their exhausted partner in front of a gripped audience, these hardy couples took part in dance marathons that were enormously popular in America in the early 20th century.

The phenomenon began during the 1920s and saw participants try to remain on their feet for as long as physically possible.

They drew large crowds and the contests spread across the country, with dancers trying to win fame by smashing records. 

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Dance marathons were both genuine endurance contests and staged performance events

Dance marathons were both genuine endurance contests and staged performance events

The brutal dance marathons saw couples try to stay standing for as long as physically possible

The brutal dance marathons saw couples try to stay standing for as long as physically possible

Contestants, who danced in pairs, were required to remain in motion (picking up one foot, then the other) 45 minutes each hour, around the clock
Contestants, who danced in pairs, were required to remain in motion (picking up one foot, then the other) 45 minutes each hour, around the clock

Contestants, who danced in pairs, were required to remain in motion (picking up one foot, then the other) 45 minutes each hour, around the clock

Fifteen minutes each hour were allotted for rest. When the air horn signaling a rest period sounded, the contestants exited the dance floor for rest areas that were filled with beds

Fifteen minutes each hour were allotted for rest. When the air horn signaling a rest period sounded, the contestants exited the dance floor for rest areas that were filled with beds

In their heyday, dance marathons were among America's most controversial forms of live entertainment

In their heyday, dance marathons were among America's most controversial forms of live entertainment

However the dangerous competition encouraged dancers to push their shattered bodies to the limit. 

The longest dance marathon lasted for more than 157 days.  

After a dip in popularity at the end of the 1920s, the sinister fad exploded back into life during the Great Depression - but with a darker side to it.

Couples now entered the competitions and danced for weeks on end, desperate to win a potential cash prize, or simply for the promise of food or medical care.

Promoters often sought out new towns where a marathon had not yet been staged, as novelty was required to bring in large crowds.

The 'walkathons' - as promoters called them - saw couples shuffle around the dance floor, trying to stay on their feet, while adhering to the rules that they remain in hold and keep moving without their knees touching the floor.

The dance marathons would leave shattered competitors hanging onto their partners

The dance marathons would leave shattered competitors hanging onto their partners

Many of the dance marathons lasted for days, even weeks at the height of their popularity

Many of the dance marathons lasted for days, even weeks at the height of their popularity

During the Great Depression, couples took part as they were desperate for food or even to have a roof over their heads

During the Great Depression, couples took part as they were desperate for food or even to have a roof over their heads

Competitors were disqualified if their knees touched the ground during the dance marathon

Competitors were disqualified if their knees touched the ground during the dance marathon

Women often had to prop up their sleeping male partners, despite their bulkier frame

Women often had to prop up their sleeping male partners, despite their bulkier frame

Contestants were given 15 minutes of rest time each hour, during which couples rushed to 'cots' in separate rest areas to sleep, which was also part of the spectacle.

Dancers increasingly succumbed to hallucinatory states in their exhaustion, desperate as they were to secure the cash prize. 

In 1930, a dance show in Schenectady, New York stated the potential for human suffering in a newspaper advert.

It read: 'No human being can possibly stand this severe test of endurance indefinitely.'  

Towards the end of the 1930s there was an attempt to regulate dance marathons, partly to resist the growing clamor to ban them. 

This, along with the change in social attitude as America emerged from the Depression, meant the dances no longer attracted the same crowds.

By 1935, 24 states had banned the contests, citing health or moral concerns, and by the end of World War Two, they had died out altogether. 

Towards the end of the 1930s there was an attempt to regulate dance marathons, partly to resist the growing clamor to ban them

Towards the end of the 1930s there was an attempt to regulate dance marathons, partly to resist the growing clamor to ban them

  

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