ALS Sufferer 'Dances' the Tango Thanks to Stop-Motion & Samsung Tech

Fundación Luzón and Samsung have released a stunning new film in which an ALS sufferer appears to perform that most passionate and iconic of dances: the tango.

As he accompanies his partner round the dancefloor to the strains of Por una Cabeza by legendary French-Argentine composer Carlos Gardel, matching her step for step, it's hard to believe that Marco is paralysed and unable to move of his own accord. 

However, the 'dance' is an illusion: painstakingly created by animating hundreds of photographic images through stop-motion.

Created by DDB España, Start the Dance is the first phase of a collaboration between Samsung and the Fundación Luzón, a charity devoted to improving the quality of life for people suffering from ALS.

The degenerative neurological disease, which progressively stops the muscles from working, hit the headlines several years ago thanks to the ice-bucket challenge, but in Spain, it has become an invisible disease: for every 1,000 cases that are diagnosed each year, another 1,000 people die. 

With 4,000 people suffering from ALS in Spain, and only 6% able to afford the high costs related to the disease (€34,594 per year), the goal of the campaign - which uses the photographic technology of the new Samsung Galaxy S9+ - is to raise awareness and funds to give those suffering from ALS the healthcare services they need, as well as to create a national technological help bank. 

"The reason for this initiative is to give visibility to a disease that has been ignored, that has no cure and that, over time, leaves the person who suffers from it without the ability to talk, eat, move and breathe on their own," explains the Fundación Luzón. "Marco was able to dance the tango in Start the Dance thanks to the use of stop-motion technology; without this it would have been impossible. Ninety-four percent of patients cannot afford the annual cost of treating ALS.”

To find out more or donate to the cause, visit the Start the Dance microsite.