As civilization dies, dance mania resurfaces
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ashes, ashes, we all fall down
The Dance of Death craze that erupted as the Black Death swept across Europe was just one form of the phenomenon of dancing mania, or St. Vitus' Dance, that has repeatedly sprung up among the peasants during times of extreme poverty and turmoil. Now the mania has returned, this time as a weapon to effect social change, end climate warming, and move powerful rulers to punish enemies of the dancers. It’s been going on for several years (“Are Twerking Protests a thing?” 2019) and its popularity is accelerating; for instance, the Dobbs Decision has inspired hundreds of womyn to twitch and shake their buttocks and vulvas in the faces of strangers, in the apparently sincerely-held belief that this will ward off evil and cure ills.
Bizarre as this all may seem to the non-believer, dancing, and shaking, and twitching have always appealed to the ignorant great unwashed when circumstances seem to be spinning beyond their (illusory) control because it restores their faith in the power of illogic, superstition, and magical hexes. So we’ve been there, done that, and we’re doing it again.
And here’s a reposting of the video that got me thinking about these odd, mentally ill folx:
