Mette Ingvartsen

Raucous crowds, convulsing bodies, ecstatic euphoria: so-called “dance crazes” occur throughout European history and belong to one of the most curious human phenomena of all: relentless dancing that spilled over into mass movements over the course of days and months, filled the streets, and ended in complete exhaustion and even death. Many explanations for this dance mania have been proffered over the centuries, including possession by evil spirits and the medical invention of hysteria (at the time exclusively diagnosed in women)

Each craze has the same pathology: it begins with a single body and infects others with unprecedented speed. The contagiousness of the phenomenon confirmed suspicions that it was an uncurable disease even though no distinctive cause was ever discovered. To this day dance mania remains unexplained.

Inspired by these events Danish artist Mette Ingvartsen explores collective ecstasy in the post-pandemic era.

Her solo fills the room with stories, electronic music, and jerking movements. In contrast to a classical setting, the audience finds itself in the middle of the action: Ingvartsen moves through the crowd as if she were dancing in a public space or lost in the rapture of an endless rave.

“The Dancing Public” is an invitation to feel the mania in your own body. The collective flow, the pull of its current, turns the evening into a mixture of dance fest, spoken-word concert, and exuberant party.

Simply put: “The Dancing Public” deals with dance mania. Many years ago, people danced in the streets without reason and without stopping. In the piece one dancer dances through the audience. There are no chairs. The audience is allowed to dance themselves.