Dance marathons (or marathon dances) are events in which people dance or walk to music for an extended period of time. They started as dance contests in the 1920s and developed into entertainment events during the Great Depression in the 1930s. In the present day, dance marathons are commonly used as fundraisers. These modern marathons are usually 12–24 hours, a far cry from the 1000 hours marathons of the 1930s. Origins According to Professor Carol Martin of New York University, the revival of the Olympic Games created a widespread interest in feats of strength, endurance contest, and world records that led to dance marathons. On February 18, 1923, Olie Finnerty and Edgar Van Ollefin set a record by dancing seven hours without stopping in Sunderland, England. Twelve days later, dance instructor Alma Cummings set a new record at the Audubon Ballroom in New York. She danced continuously for 27 hours with six different partners. Within three weeks, her record was broken at least nine times across the United States. As the prosperous 1920s faded into the struggling 1930s, dance marathons boomed and offered cash prizes equivalent to a year's salary. They provided contestants and spectators food, shelter and the opportunity to earn cash prizes at a time when many people needed a free meal. In her book Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture of the 1920s and 1930s, Carol Martin writes "in their heyday, dance marathons were among America’s most widely attended and controversial forms of live entertainment. The business employed an estimated 20,000 people as promoters, masters of ceremonies, floor judges, trainers, nurses and contestants." According to Martin, nearly every American city of 50,000 people or more hosted at least one endurance dance marathon at the peak of the craze. Women constituted up to 75 percent of dance marathon audiences. By the late 1930s, dance marathons had faded from the cultural landscape. The idea of a dance marathon changed for the contestants in the 1930s due to the great depression boom. The contests were poverty-driven, and the people were desperate to win the battle for the prize. Dance marathons have occurred in most large cities, such as M.D Crandall’s at Madison Square Garden. Smaller cities didn't have as many social issues compared to the contests in larger cities. Though promoters made less money in smaller towns, they looked for a place where a large crowd could fit in for the