> A few old papers in the literature had piqued Rapoport’s interest. [...] Thomas Sydenham, the 17th-century English physician who first described the condition

> A few old papers in the literature had piqued Rapoport’s interest. [...] Thomas Sydenham, the 17th-century English physician who first described the condition, called it Saint Vitus’ dance, after the dancing manias that emerged in continental Europe during the Black Death, when large groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, would cavort in the streets until they collapsed from exhaustion. Curious. In Germany, this condition ("Veitstanz"), while not in "common" knowledge, is at least in the "grandparent's random wisdom" set. Without the modern separation into Chorea Sydenham and Chorea Huntington, but still. Does anyone know more about the cultural context of this in English-speaking cultures? Do you know the terms "St. Vitus' dance" or "dancing plague"?