SCP-1274
Dance Craze
Special Containment Procedures
News media and Internet video sites are to be scanned continuously for any of the keywords found in Addendum SCP-1274-1. Internet videos should be suppressed (as far as is possible) through copyright takedown requests from Sound Content Productions, a Foundation front corporation. These are to include key phrases which will bring them to the attention of agents placed within the hosting organization. News reports indicating outbreaks of SCP-1274 or its tertiary effects should be investigated in the guise of a quarantine action intended to prevent the spread of an aggressive form of viral meningitis.
Any instances of SCP-1274-1 discovered in the course of an investigation are to be contained in individual windowless cells. Meals and standard hygiene facilities are to be provided. Any entertainment media without music may be offered upon request, at the discretion of the lead researcher. Interviews with SCP-1274-1 instances are to be performed with physical restraints in place to prevent movement of the subject's arms and legs. Experimental treatments for tertiary effects of SCP-1274 may be administered with approval from the lead researcher and the Ethics Committee.
Description
SCP-1274 is a proprioceptive memetic hazard in the form of a novel style of dance. It shows influences from various Caribbean dance styles and the American urban form known as "krumping". The dance is done in groups in a "follow the leader" fashion, with one dancer performing a series of moves which are then emulated by the other participants. The style is improvisational in some respects, but has a core repertoire of ██ distinct movements which appear repeatedly. A specific sequence of ██ of these movements appears to be the contagious agent.
SCP-1274 is safe to observe, live or via recordings. Transmission only occurs when the key sequence of movements is performed by a subject (hereafter known as SCP-1274-1). Shortly after infection, subjects experience powerful euphoria and increased empathy with other dancers. Additionally, instances of SCP-1274-1 display the following cognitive changes:
- Increased sexual receptiveness.
- Greatly increased suggestibility.
- Preference for consensus-based conflict resolution.
- Reduced need for sleep (varies by individual, but some instances have shown no adverse effects from two hours of sleep nightly)
- A marked preference for the color orange.
Tertiary neurological effects begin to appear within 2-6 weeks of initial exposure, with speed of onset strongly correlated with the frequency of SCP-1274 performance. These include:
- Chronic sleep-onset insomnia.
- Progressive abnormal involuntary movement disorder, similar to Huntington's chorea but including movements from SCP-1274's repertoire.
- Language pathologies, initially presenting as intermittent schizophasia and progressing to total aphasia combined with random utterances similar to glossolalia.
Pharmaceutical interventions and physical therapies which have proven effective in the management of Huntington's Disease appear to have little effect on the progression of neurological symptoms. Amnestic drug therapy has shown some efficacy in eliminating the memetic component of SCP-1274, but appears ineffective once neurological symptoms have manifested.
SCP-1274 was first discovered in [REDACTED], a medium-sized American city with a significant minority population of Dominican descent. (However, no evidence of contagion has been found in the Dominican Republic itself.) Reports of anomalous neurological disorders among young people in the city's club culture led Foundation agents to the discovery of the hazard. ███ instances of SCP-1274-1 were contained in a raid on a "warehouse party", followed by ██ additional instances gathered as part of a subsequent "public health" action. Since then, █ additional outbreaks have occurred, primarily in cities of population 300,000 or less in the Southeastern United States. Additionally, three instances of instructional video for the dance have been found on popular Internet video sites. While these have been successfully removed by Foundation action, the number of exposed individuals is unknown.