It might seem strange nowadays that something as seemingly innocent as participating in a dancathon could land you in jail for six months, but that was the case in Oakland, California, until last week.

The ban on dance marathons came into effect in 1930 when endurance competitions were something of a fad and people were harming themselves by competing for 24 hours a day, for weeks at a time, dancing for 45 minutes then taking 15-minute breaks.

Participants, desperate to win the cash prizes, would fall asleep on each other and suffered various injuries, even heart attacks.

A number of cities across California decided to ban endurance competitions including "so-called 'marathon dance,' 'walkathon,' 'endurathon,' 'speedathon,' or any public human endurance dancing, walking, running, skipping, jumping, sliding, gliding, rolling, or crawling".

But on Tuesday 17 July, the law was finally repealed.

We do not need to keep so-called morality laws from several generations ago on the books," City Attorney Barbara Parker told The San Francisco Chronicle.

While Oakland residents will no longer fear that entering the city's annual running festival, which includes a 5K, half-marathon and full marathon, will leave them with a criminal record, some people are indifferent to the repeal.

Yoshio Takakuwa, 86, told The San Francisco Chronicle: ""You have to remember, we're not young kids anymore. If I dance for three minutes, I need five minutes of rest, at least."

Source:

Oakland drops ban on dance marathons (The San Francisco Chronicle)