St. Vitus Dance

The staccato stammering of bass guitars punctuated the flash of strobe lights. Limitless vistas of black and gray; smothering the crowd in ghoulish poses. Framed, as if frozen, in a glow of acid white. Some stagger, their movements mimicking, the rigors of death or birth? Others jerk puppet like upon invisible, randomly clipped, strings. And, as the music grinds to a halt, driven by the apocalyptic pace of the Disc Jockey, and the hard scratching sound of synthesizers; the charmed, trance dancers disperse; swallowed whole by the shadows. *St. Vitus's dance was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 18th centuries; it involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely. Men, women, and children would dance through the streets of towns or cities, sometimes foaming at the mouth until they collapsed from fatigue....and the beat goes on....