A dance marathon is an event in which people stay on their feet for a given length of time. It started as a popular fad in the 1920s and 1930s, when organized dance endurance contests attracted people to compete to achieve fame or win monetary prizes. A 1969 film about the fad, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, based on the 1935 book of the same name, written by Horace McCoy who was a bouncer at several such marathons, popularised the idea, and prompted students at Pennsylvania State University and Northwestern University to create charity dance marathons.
Read more about Dance Marathon: 1920s and 1930s, Charity Dance Marathons
Famous quotes containing the words dance and/or marathon:
“The only dance masters I could have were Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Walt Whitman and Nietzsche.”
—Isadora Duncan (1878–1927)
“In their eyes I have seen
the pin men of madness in marathon trim
race round the track of the stadium pupil.”
—Patricia K. Page (b. 1916)