It’s not just the fictional town of Bomont, Oklahoma, that has a problem with dancing. Outside the silly world of “Footloose,” the world’s “only pure art form,” in the words of a wise cartoon beagle, inspires intense legislation, black-market lechery, and even murder. In the wake of the news that Japan will finally lift its more than 50-year ban on public dancing next year, we’ve compiled a brief anthology of other countries where dance is a crime.

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