"Black" Dance Marathons (not racial,) Continuous motion or "Derbies" can be traced back to 1364 in London and became extremely popular during the depression years in the United States during the 1920s-30s as many out of work people would compete for money prizes, as well as some stars of some kind seeking publicity. Anyone could enter these pageants of fatigue and endurance contests.

    Most of the music that was played was slow, but once or twice an hour they would pick up the beat (called Sprints) and they were required to dance the dance of the music, sometimes for extra cash and/or prizes. The general rule was you could not fall asleep, while some contests allowed one part of the team to sleep so long as the other held them up, kept in contact and / or kept moving.

    As time in the contest continued, resting times would go from the 1st week - half hour, 2nd week to fifteen minutes, then ten minutes, then five, then three minutes to none, while some marathons would be danced sixty minutes then rest for fifteen. There were many variations in the rules for different events, but you get the idea. To insure people followed the rules, there were referees that walked among the dancers, making sure the dancers stayed moving by using various methods to wake them up or to make sure they stayed on their feet, kept moving etc. or whatever might be in the rules.

   The marathon usually consisted of a emcee, a Band and or phonograph player, a Nurses, in house Doctor, a dance Judge, a few cots, a dance floor, Contestants, with some furnishing Barbers, Manicurists and Podiatrists, etcetera. Some contestants were professional dancers/actors and would move from one marathon to the next. Not all entrants were there to win, some were placed (staged) in the contest to later get into a fight (Jerry Springer type) or some kind of entertainment to draw interest and draw the paying audience, as well as having "fixed" type entertainment like modern day wrestling on television. Dance marathons eventually turned into walk-a-thons, being that you had to dance part of the hour and walk another part of the hour, eventually they became just walking the whole time.

   The longest running dance marathon lasted for 22 weeks and 3 1/2 days. Some dancers would do many things to help them continue, one ladies success was due to "Pickling her feet" before the contests (yes, just like making pickles). Some marathons would allow you to switch partners with another contestant within a certain time period if your partner dropped out or quit, feel asleep etc. with another who's partner did same, as long as the remaining partner kept moving. Dance marathons were eventually outlawed (called Blue Laws) in most states due to the unhealthy condition they would put the contestants in and yes, some even died doing them (you can die from lack of sleep alone as well as other things like heart attacks, etc.).

   The Dance Marathons Book and Dance of the Sleepwalkers is a great source for information on the whole aspect of Marathon Dancing in a book form. Personally, my favorite was the Kissing Marathons :)

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