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 human endurance contests, or exploitative entertainment events during the Great Depression in the 1930s.[1] In the present day, dance marathons are commonly used as fundraisers.[2][3] These modern marathons are usually 12–24 hours, a far cry from the 1,000-hour marathons of the 1930s.[4]