Choreomania

Do you have an uncontrollable urge to dance that no one can cure? Is your whole town afflicted? Join us for Choreomania, an immersive theme party inspired by a bizarre medieval medical phenomenon, that’s returning to the Mütter Museum after more than 600 partygoers “danced until they dropped” last year! This year’s “diagnosis” (theme) is choleric, one of the four humors, which embraces fire, passion, and physical activity. Expect an even bigger, bolder, more transportive event this year, kicking off at 6 p.m. with a garden party in the Benjamin Rush Medicinal Plant Garden. Guests will enjoy music, drinks, and mingle before the main event. The full immersive experience begins at 7 p.m., when visitors enter a medieval village that transports them to the 16th century for an energetic, unusual, and theatrical experience. Guests will enter “dancing mania” under sensory light installations created by the artist collective Glimmer Labs, plus after-hours Museum access, light bites, specialty cocktails for purchase, and dancing featuring music from DJ Yngfu and DJ Daniela, Founder of Deep Playa NYC. The evening will feature access to special collections items, immersive experiences with villagers from the period, and pop-up activations that combine medieval medicine, astrology, and much more. Choreomania draws on the historical phenomenon of "dancing mania," which periodically struck medieval European towns. The best-known case was the so-called Dancing Plague of 1518 in Strasbourg, France, where hundreds of citizens were affected by a widespread but inexplicable need to dance. Guests are encouraged to embrace the theme with Choreomania-themed costumes- think peasant-core, the medieval period’s visual culture, and demonology!