EVER SINCE HE SAW “SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER” HE JUST CAN’T STOP!
Mario Ballare, age 54, from Brooklyn has been dancing 24 hours a day since 1977. He saw the debut of “Saturday Night Fever” and hasn’t been able to stop moving since!
Doctors originally thought it was a simple case of “restless leg syndrome,” however this affliction is much more debilitating. He hasn’t stood still in 43 years. When he sleeps – his legs don’t stop moving!
It all started in 1977 when Ballare was 11 years old. His parents took him to see the iconic John Travolta movie and he still cannot get the soundtrack out of his head. No matter what he does the songs keep playing in his head, and making his body move.
“People think I’m happy because I’m dancing all the time, but what they don’t realize is that my feet are killing me. All the time! They don’t understand me, they don’t understand my strange disease,” said the distressed middle-aged man.
Ballare hasn’t been able to hold down a job, drive a car, play sports, or even sit in a movie theatre again ever since he saw the movie. He lives in his mother’ basement and collects disability. Before the pandemic, Ballare would often frequent dance clubs just to feel normal and try to fit in for a few hours.
But ever since Covid things have really taken a turn for the worse for Ballare. There are also many other side. effects that he has been experiencing. “I have bad digestion and I have a lot of trouble going to the bathroom. It’s embarrassing to use public toilets as I often make a big mess. I knock into things and stalls are a real challenge.”
“IT’S BEEN DIFFICULT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.”
His mother, Rose Ballare, 79, told Weekly World News that Mario was a happy, healthy child. “But once he came home from that damn movie theatre, he never stopped that disco-dancing. John Travolta, he ruined our lives!
“Mario didn’t even buy the album, all that music from the movie was just stuck in his head like some bad music glue. It keep playing and playing on some kind of endless brain loop,” Rose said with tears coming down her face. “He really wanted to see Animal House, but I thought he was too young for that. He never gave me a grandchild! That’s the worst of all. I never had a little Mario to love!”
Because of this debilitating disease, Ballare has considered suicide over the years. But the song “Stayin’ Alive” is just too happy and upbeat for him to even think about going through with it. “It keeps me from following through.”
Weekly World News had more questions for Ballare, but we couldn’t keep up with his dancing. He left us and danced onto a crosstown bus.
wow. a dream come true!!! 25 years later!
After all these years, he must hold the world record. What an incredible accomplishment.
Well, someone should put a stop to this!
It’s bad enough the guy’s listening to the bee geez, the movie had John Revolting in it!
So, if nothing else, Mario needs to be stopped, with whatever means necessary, even if he’s put into a straight jacket and locked up, if nothing else, for that damn tie he was wearing!
And he’s still wearing an open neck/chest shirt?
How about blocking Brooklyn off from the U.S.?
Death to Disco!
It’s a tragedy!
I could laugh if it wasn’t so sad!