The Dancing Plague

Painting

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oil on canvas

200cm by 150cm

2023

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"The Dancing Plague, or Dance Epidemic, occurred in 1518 in Strasbourg, Alsace.
A few hundred people danced frantically, as if ridden by beasts.
Unable to stop until total exhaustion, collapse and in many cases death.
Some sources claim that for a period, the Dancing Plague killed 15 people per day."

I keep returning to this topic as it brings together a lot of points that I cannot fully get my head around. Growing up with German fairy tales, contemporary consumer culture, ecstasy and pain.