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Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Site of Charlie’s Place

Once a safe haven for Black patrons and performers—including Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington—during the Jim Crow era, portions of this nightclub and motel have been restored to welcome a new kind of visitor.
North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Fat Harold’s Beach Club

This historic home of the shag is keeping a Southern dance tradition going strong.
Video

All Roads Lead to Texas: Big Wonder

05:24
A Hindu priest holds a lit coconut oil lamp in front of statues of Prince Vijaya (left) and Kuweni (right) at the Sri Subramaniam temple in the southern Sri Lankan town of Matara.
music

How This Demon Dance Banishes Illnesses in Sri Lanka's Remote Jungles

The kankariya dance all started with a legendary demon queen named Kuweni.
Zinara Rathnayake May 4, 2023
Itinerary

7 Places to Experience Big Wonder in Texas

Hit the state’s highest peaks, darkest skies, and widest vistas on this super-sized road trip.
Paris, France

Vaslav Nijinsky’s Grave

A melancholy jester sits on the grave of a famous 20th-century ballet dancer and choreographer.
A devil mask rests on a table inside the workshop of the Minga Tunguipamba, a collective of rural performers, as dancers put the finishing touches on their masks and costumes ahead of the Diablada de Píllaro. The artists spend weeks and sometimes months creating and personalizing their masks. Many utilize horns, teeth, and furs from animals such as deer, boars, and llamas.
festivals

Every January, This City in Ecuador Fills With Dancing Devils

Diablada de Píllaro is a rebellious but festive answer to a much older tradition begun by Spanish colonizers.
Sarah Durn January 13, 2023
Dance-O-Mat machine
Christchurch, New Zealand

Dance-O-Mat

A coin-operated washing machine turned jukebox, complete with an outdoor dance floor.
music

Video: A Legendary Texas Music Community

In this town located 15 minutes outside of Fredericksburg, musical performances are hosted 363 days a year. Grab a beer and kick back under 300-year-old oak trees that have heard some of the best country musicians of all time.
Martinique's vibrant dance tradition includes bèlè, which participants have described as an "otherworldly" experience.
ethnographic

Martinique's Bèlè Dance Is a Celebration of Land, Spirit, and Liberation

For centuries, the Caribbean island's tradition has been a symbol of resistance, healing, and empowerment.
Camee Maddox-Wingfield June 6, 2022
Elite Hall (July 21, 2016)
Hyrum, Utah

Elite Hall

Built in 1917, this building is home to the last working spring-loaded dance floor in Utah.
William "Dangerous Dan" Fairbairn's "pistol house" was a new type of training for Americans preparing for a new kind of war.
islands

A Year in Wacky History, from Renaissance “Hell Banquets” to Georgia’s Muddy Spring Rites

Our favorite history stories inspire your sense of wonder.
Sarah Durn December 30, 2021
Russian Empress Elizabeth used cross-dressing to cement her power. She's shown here in a traditionally male guard uniform.
royalty

The Weekly Cross-Dressing Balls of 18th-Century Russian Royalty

How empresses used "metamorphosis" to show their male courtiers who’s the boss.
Sarah Durn October 4, 2021
architecture

Podcast: Josephine Baker’s Chateau

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team July 19, 2021
The monument
Santa Cruz de la Palma, Spain

Monumento a el Enano (Monument to the Dwarf)

A statue commemorating the island's tradition of dancing dwarves in Napoleon hats.
Tbilisi, Georgia

Berikaoba Sculpture Group

A lively circle of dancers in the Georgian capital commemorates an ancient rite of spring.
A lion dance performer during Lunar New Year in Kuala Lumpur.
sports

Malaysia Has Turned Lion Dancing Into a Gravity-Defying Extreme Sport

Meet some of the troupes taking an ancient tradition to new heights.
Marina Wang February 9, 2021
<em>Taishū engeki</em> is usually split into two distinct halves: a play that fuses Edo-period drama in the style of a soap opera, followed by bouts of dancing and music.
culture

In Japan, ‘Theater for the People’ Makes Fandom a Part of the Show

The constantly evolving form of taishū engeki bends both gender and genre.
Will Stewart October 22, 2020