A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations/Dancers

DANCERS, a sect which arose at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1373, whence they spread through Liege, Hainault, and other parts of Flanders. It was customary for persons of both sexes, publicly, as well as in private, to begin dancing of a sudden; and, holding each others' hands, to continue their motions with extraordinary violence, till they dropt breathless together. They affirmed, that during these intervals of agitation, they were favoured with wonderful visions. Like the Flagellants, they wandered about from place to place; had recourse to begging for their sustenance; and treated with the utmost contempt both the priesthood and the church.

The clergy supposed them to be possessed, and applied exorcism, as they say, with complete success. M. Bonnet, however, gives the honour of these holy dances to the Catholic church, and F. Menestrier says the choir originally received its name from being the part of the church where the priests used to dance together; and the custom of religious dancing was continued by the Brandons in France as low down as the beginning of the eighteenth century.