Dance Marathons during the Great Depression

        In class we discussed various types of entertainment during the 1930's, and, besides cinema and radio becoming popular, dance marathons were a common way for people to kill time and distract themselves from the rather dismal daily life of the Great Depression. These "derbies","walkathons," or "jitterathons" were endurance competitions that found their origins years before in England, but became popularized in the United States around the 1920's. Originally the competitions were a way for individuals to receive momentary fame as people tried to beat records for the longest continual dancing. In 1923, at the first official American dance marathon, a dance teacher, Alma Cummings, danced for 27 hours straight, changing out her dancing partner six times. The 32 year old even ended her record setting dance with a thrilling waltz.
        In the beginning, most of the records were held by women and it was common for partners to be traded out and a single winner to be named. Later though, couple competitions became more common and rules were put in place to dictate what movements counted as dancing and when the dancers could rest. Once the 1930's hit and the Great Depression seeped into every aspect of life, these dances became more about endurance than dance technique as participants sought prize money more than the brief fame of winning a competition. The competitions were also a way for people to congregate under a roof and get a plate of hot food under the pretense of dancing and socializing when basic human needs were not guaranteed.

Dance competition holders tried to capitalize on the new fad, contributing to the increasing skepticism and sinister quality attributed to these competitions. Competitors would be given increasingly shorter amounts of time to rest in between dance segments, and spectators could watch as they went about their sleeping, eating, resting, and washing during these breaks. Dancers no longer had to 'dance,' but only continue moving without their knees touching the ground. Couple would also completely support their partners and trade off resting in order to last longer. The longest competition lasted 22 weeks and three and a half days. The desperation of competitors was evident as some even died during these competitions from muscle fatigue, lack of sleep, or heart attacks. Some competition holders would employ tactics that would specifically humiliate the competitors to draw crowds or plant dancers in the competition to stir up trouble and entertain the paying spectators. There was increasing pressure to close the competitions, but the money made from advertising and the willingness of the competitors to persevere for money kept them alive until laws banning them and increasing backlash dwindled their number until they had disappeared by the end of WWII.

Corinne McCabe