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:
“Pretty friendship ‘tis to rhyme
Your friends to death before their time
Moping melancholy mad:
Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad.””
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“... marathon swimming is the most difficult physical, intellectual and emotional battleground I have encountered, and each time I win, each time I touch the other shore, I feel worthy of any other challenge life has to offer.”
—Diana Nyad (b. 1949)