Nobody's Baby - The World's Greatest Show
T0
A new dance theatre event exploring the phenomenon of dance marathons in 1930s America. In 1923 a 32-year old woman named Alma Cummings danced for 27 hours straight setting a new dance endurance record. The craze for dance marathons soon developed and became extremely popular during the American depression of the 1930s. This brutal fascination attracted desperate couples to dance until they dropped, in a bid to win a life-transforming cash prize. Participants remained on the dance floor, almost non-stop, for hundreds of hours, in fact most dance marathons lasted for 6 to 12 weeks. The longest recorded marathon clocked up 3780 hours; which stretched to almost 5 months. Contestants had to be in continual motion for 45 minutes out of every hour, day and night, and were disqualified if both knees touched the floor. This cruel and exploitative form of ?entertainment', that drove some to their death, was eventually outlawed in 1937.
Archive :: dance or ballet:S023659966, venue:V377
Production details
Paul Hamlyn Hall
Production Changes
Previous details associated with this item and date of change.
- 20 Mar 14
- H:Arthur Pita, M:Frank Moon
