Dancing Mania - Definition

Definition

"Dancing mania" is derived from the term "choreomania", from the Greek choros (dance) and mania (madness), and is also known as "dancing plague". The term was coined by Paracelsus, and the condition was initially considered a curse sent by a saint, usually St John the Baptist or St Vitus, and was therefore known as "St Vitus' Dance" or "St John's Dance". Victims of dancing mania often ended their processions at places dedicated to that saint, who was prayed to in an effort to end the dancing; incidents often broke out around the time of the feast of St Vitus.

St Vitus' Dance was diagnosed, in the 17th century, as Sydenham chorea. Dancing mania has also been known as epidemic chorea and epidemic dancing. A disease of the nervous system, chorea is characterized by symptoms resembling those of dancing mania, which has also rather unconvincingly been considered a form of epilepsy. Scientists have described dancing mania as a "collective mental disorder", "collective hysterical disorder", and "mass madness".