Dance Mania and Devotion in Fifteenth-Century Strasbourg

In 1418 Strasbourg, crowds of people took to the streets to dance. Some danced for days, not stopping to eat, drink, or rest until they collapsed from exhaustion. This frenetic dancing was termed St. Vitus dance. I consider how this dance was perceived by contemporary witnesses, and how the dancers experienced their movement, suggesting that St. Vitus dance as it occurred in Strasbourg in 1418 was a performed aspect of popular, ecstatic, and embodied devotional practices. I argue that St. Vitus dance was interpreted by contemporary witnesses as devotional suffering which attempted to bring the dancers closer to God.