Imagine being hungry, very hungry and have no money in his pocket. Imagine not even have a roof to sleep because the economic depression (very topical these days) has left you all 'bivouac a "Black Thursday" before not to a very cold and long winter. Suppose that there is a place to find shelter, a hot meal waiting for you and the promise of monetary reward, a tempting prize, indeed, vital, so there is something crazy to ask in return: to dance till you drop. It sounds like the plot of a movie but it is a real experience, a mass delusion that raged in North America between the twenties and thirties, and that dragged on dance generations of men and women driven by poverty and want. The "Dance Marathons" were not racing but real threats to health. The debate is for participants to dance continuously for several days (sometimes months), forcing them to eat or sleep standing up; disqualified. The stock market crash on Wall Street shook the 'world economy that on October 24, 1929 on the streets throwing the middle class who had invested their earnings in durable consumer goods or put "safe" life savings in the bank. A few hours and the "welfare" 's time, that naively promised by the thirty-first U.S. President, Herbert Hoover, to' crack dawn of economic, was dissolved with funds, property and labor.
What better solution than participate in a dance competition with a lot of prize? Fun and profit in view, nothing easier than to join the 'ultile pleasure. Unfortunately, things went differently and ended up with the competitors' naively adhere to that, over time, turned into a shameful scam, since the sponsors of the marathon, I decided to earn the highest income in return for an insignificant expense, wore make-up races hiring professional dancers and actors taken "on loan" from Vaudeville who ended up winning the competition or simply extending the hours of dancing hideously. The great American director Sidney Pollack turned, in 1969, a film entirely inspired by the dance marathons, and entrusted the role of the bravvissimi is protagonist Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. The original title of the film was "They Shoot Horses, Do not They?" Translated into Italian, "It was not like they kill the horses?". In fact, the term "horse" was referring metaphorically to competitors who were exploited on the dance floor until the "death" as was the case with horses. To think that in principle this competition was invented by University of Pennsylvania as a collective charity event aimed to ease the pain of the country. Enrolling couples ushered in the opening night filled with hope and energy as a result nurito attended by "stands rudimentary" set up for the 'occasion, upon payment of a' ticket 'entry' of little economic value.
To cheer the 'event which took place a band that gave way, with the sunrise, a gramophone willing to tirelessly trumpeting notes of jazz until the diabolical' arrival of the 'other band' night "which replaces the previous one. We danced for hours with little rest intervals in which participants were allowed to lie down, sleep or loose shoes. L 'clothing was generally unsuitable physical effort, women danced wearing clothes mezzitacchi and "elegant", the men did not fail to wear jackets and ties while the rest end up in his shirt sleeves. The meals offered by the sponsor, were consumed in motion while the judges, sometimes fitted with shoes, looked at couples in ensuring compliance with the rules. Indeed, it was essential that the partners remain "joined the company and that your knees remain straight, or at least, remote from the floor. If the competitor now exhausted, fell to the ground or pour himself bent on supporting the knees inevitably, the pair was eliminated. We narrate episodes in which after marathon lasted 19 days, brave (and desperate ) Participants give way to the brink of victory or were excluded for a trivial incident. It was common to see someone supporting your weight on one foot to allow all 'other leg to rest while some people are literally chained' to an 'other to avoid slipping and collapsing during sleep. Ropes and leashes for dogs had an excellent "glue" artificial. Women often bear the brunt of sleeping companions, and vice versa, just as frequently, as problems of physical injuries, muscle injuries, sprains or broken bone forced the dancers to leave the race.
C 'was also who was able to read, write, or work knit during 'performance, time spent outside the house was filled as usual and domestic habits were moving on the dance floor. While parents were competing, the children if they were to sleep on the benches or splat against the wall. Happened to that famous radio personality documented in the direct 'event. It was also possible that, during the highly intervals, the sadism of the organizers unforgivable touched peaks, draw at random, the name of one of the competitors to delight the audience with some poetry, song, story or imitations. Viewers were invited to partake of refreshments meanwhile shelling out a few cents. In no way could interact with competitors , If only verbally incitadandoli with choirs, praise or warnings. Another trick used by the organizers to discourage participants were unaware of tunes to choose quick advantage of their weakness, s' rule required them to modulate the pace the pace you choose, alternating sounds slower then other vortex. The prize was usually a very attractive amount of money given the lack of time but the victory was always a bitter taste. Often the victors were too tired to enjoy the prize that was given them between the flash and clamor of the local photographers of the ending. No wonder, after having read, though many Americans were the "Dance Marathons" were declared illegal and therefore prohibited, from human point of view, the candidates to subjugate a heavy physical exertion, while considering the 'moral aspect, it was unthinkable, as the priests had to say on the pupiti of the churches, to help pay for this type exploitation. With the 'advent of World War II and the slow economic recovery marathons lost its charm and ended with the' openly boycotted by the public. During those years we are moving images of women reverse the bodies of comrades, prey of sleep and fatigue.
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