lly do not.
A more complex take on the cause of the hysteria comes from John Waller, a medical historian. Waller notes the severe psychological stresses were at play in areas where dancing plagues occurred. Life in the Middle Ages was brutal and short, and this was especially true in the regions and times where dancing outbursts happened. Take Strasbourg in 1518, for example. These were people dealing with poor harvests, which meant even harsher living. Diseases like syphilis were also raging throughout the area. The stress of this eventually broke people like poor Frau Troffea down.
As for why they went with dancing as an emotional reaction, Waller also discusses the idea of the people acting out the beliefs that they held. In our modern world, we have been going through tremendous stress too, but you don't see anyone dancing their worries away (outside of those first few months of the pandemic where everyone did TikTok dances, but that was just out of boredom). In the Middle Ages, though, the people who lived in the areas affected by dancing mania had firmly held beliefs about spirits and demons. Possession felt as real to them as the cycle of the harvest. When times became too difficult, some people may have been psychologically beaten until they believed that they were victims of possession. Then, others joined as mass hysteria spread.
TL;DR: pre-existing beliefs + extreme stress = a dancing fever you can't sweat out
What's The Cure For Dancing Fever Then?
Well, it's not music, that's for sure.
During the 1518 dancing outbreak, authorities logically concluded that the way to end the nonstop party was to encourage the entranced dancers to keep going until they ran out of energy. They brought in musicians to give the dancers a soundtrack and essentially turned the afflicted Strasbourg into a music festival. Instead of ending the dancing plague, this just encouraged it to keep going. It was a good effort, though.
Instead, the dancing ceased in 1518 when the afflicted dancers were taken to a shrine for Saint Vitus, who was associated with dancing. Priests performed rituals, and this supposedly cured the dancers. More dancers were brought to the shrine, and they were "cured" of their dancing. Then, the dancing eventually just fizzled out, much as it does at the club once the night has gone on long enough.
It makes sense to believe that removing the afflicted from the dancing would help on its own. If the dancers were more inspired to dance because others were doing so, removing them from the dance would logically remove the drive to dance. Dancing plagues are examples of mass hysteria, where groups suffer illnesses or perceived threats together. In this case, the illness just so happened to be dancing.
Has Anything Similar Happened Since Then?
There have been about 10 documented instances of dancing plagues that occurred during the Middle Ages. These are only the ones that have been documented, so there is always the chance that other incidents occurred. One thing remains certain, though. Once dancing plagues went away, they went away for good. There was never a moment where people in Germany joined an endless dance circle in 1800. Much like many styles of dance, dancing plagues were really a product of their time.
As seen in this documentary, showing one that occurred in the early 2010s.
The reason for their decline may be linked back to the idea that the afflicted people danced in part because they believed demonic possessions were occurring. Mass hysteria is nothing new and has happened since the dancing died, but mass hysteria of this type was an incredibly localized thing to this era and location. As John Waller theorized, the circumstances of distress were all around the people of the time. It just so happened to manifest as dancing for them.
The dancing plagues of the Middle Ages continue to be some of the more fascinating and bizarre anecdotes of history. We may never know exactly what led these people to dance themselves to death, but it's also important to remember that we modern folks really aren't any less "cr