Marathon dancing
Marathon dancing, a popular phenomenon of the Roaring Twenties, involved long-duration dance competitions that captivated audiences across the United States. Originating from endurance events like six-day bicycle races, the trend surged in 1923 when dance instructors demonstrated non-stop dancing for impressive durations, eventually escalating to marathons exceeding twenty-seven hours. The events attracted a diverse crowd, including gamblers and entertainers, creating a vibrant yet risky atmosphere. As the Great Depression set in, marathon dancing provided not just entertainment but also essential shelter and meals for the unemployed, transforming it into a lifeline for many participants.
Competitors aimed for cash prizes, sometimes pre-selected by promoters, while audiences paid to witness the spectacle, which included innovative challenges such as blindfold dancing. Notable events, such as the Dance Derby of the Century at Madison Square Garden in 1928, highlighted the craze's peak. Although the marathon trend waned by the late 1930s, it experienced a revival in the 1970s for charitable causes, with many educational institutions embracing its legacy into the present day. Overall, marathon dancing reflects a unique intersection of culture, competition, and community during a transformative era in American history.
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Marathon dancing
A fad with staying power, marathon dancing encapsulated the daring, shady ambiance of the Roaring Twenties. Competitions drew business, as well as gamblers, hustlers, and other unsavory types, to communities. They brought drama into the lives of ordinary Americans and gave participants a chance at fame and fortune. After the 1929 stock market crash, marathons provided cheap refuge for the unemployed and an engaging challenge for competitors.
Dance marathons were an extension of the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century craze for endurance events: automobile, six-day bicycle, and long-distance foot races. Before World War I, ballroom dancers Vernon and Irene Castle gave exhibitions, helping make dancing more socially acceptable in a culture emerging from Victorian repression. After the war, the booming economy and the popularity of jazz music made dancing part of everyday life.
Unlike most endurance fads of the 1920s, such as rocking chair marathons, flagpole sitting, kissing contests, and aviation feats, marathon dancing regularly drew large, paying crowds. The trend began in 1923 when a pair of English dance instructors whirled without interruption for seven hours. Within months, the continuous dancing record rose to twenty-five hours. The United States became captivated when an American woman, using several partners, raised the mark to twenty-seven hours.
By the mid-1920s, dance marathons were common throughout the United States. Within five years, they were well-received community events, often advertised on local radio. More than twenty thousand amateur and professional dancers, musicians, entertainers, announcers, judges, and support personnel were employed in the industry. Every sizable town hosted marathons. Cash awards of up to five thousand dollars drew contestants, though winners were often chosen in advance. Audiences by the thousands paid twenty-five cents to watch men and women dance for hours in hopes of gaining records, money, and recognition. To keep marathons interesting, promoters added progressively difficult challenges, like blindfold dancing or sprints. One of the most famous dance marathons of the 1920s took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City in June 1928. The competition was hosted by publicist Milton Crandall, who called it the Dance Derby of the Century.
During the Depression, dance marathons became more of a source of income than a lighthearted activity. For the unemployed, it meant temporary shelter. For contestants, it meant food; they received twelve snacks every day and a cot for ten minutes every hour. The dance marathon record, set in the mid-1930s, stood at 3,780 hours, or 157.5 days.
Impact
Actor June Havoc, comedian Red Skelton, and writer Horace McCoy all gained experience in the dance marathon industry. The fad faded in the late 1930s as the United States prepared for World War II. In the 1970s, twenty-four-hour dance marathons were revived for charitable purposes, and many colleges and high schools carried the 1920s marathon dancing tradition into the twenty-first century.
Bibliography
Kyvig, David E. Daily Life in the United States, 1920–1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004.
Martin, Carol. Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture in the 1920s and 1930s. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994.