A rave experience, minus the hedonism? Finding connection – with yourself and others – without saying a word? Here’s why ecstatic dance is exactly what everyone needs right now.

In 2023, it’s clear that the future of exercise is all about the relationship between mind and body. Mental health and muscles. Don’t take our word for it: London’s first ‘mind gym’ has just opened as a space for nurturing mental wellbeing, while classes that incorporate meditation and HIIT are popping up everywhere.

This holistic approach to fitness is gaining momentum, but perhaps the most visceral example is the growing popularity of ecstatic dancing. 

Before you click off, imagining that scene from Peep Show when Jez and Mark attend Rainbow Rhythms, let us explain. Ecstatic dance doesn’t have to feel super cringe.

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What is ecstatic dance?

Dance, in its many forms, is recognised for its cardio benefits as well as being a great way to have fun and let loose. You build stamina, balance and full-body strength – building muscles from your calves to your shoulders.

Ecstatic dance has all of those benefits, and then some. For starters, you don’t need to learn a single step.

“With ecstatic dance and ecstatic movement, you’re allowing the body to take over and move to the rhythm of the music, rather than choreographing anything,” explains Emma Marshall, whose Movement Is Medicine hour-long classes (taught via Zoom and in-person at The Lodge Space in London’s Canada Water) are split between meditation and ecstatic dancing. 

“Your body is in charge instead of your mind. What you’re trying to do is let your body move in this free-form way so that you can find a level of freedom and release that comes naturally when we allow our bodies to move in a way that we’re not controlling.”

Ecstatic dancing has been around for thousands of years

While the practice might sound like something Goop just made up, it’s actually been around for centuries. In fact, the ancient Greeks did it, as did the Sufi Dervishes. It’s also long been a part of various indigenous shamanistic practices, where a combination of rhythmic drumming and ecstatic dance helps shamans connect to spirits. 

In the 1970s, Gabrielle Roth drew on these ancient principles to create 5Rhythms, a dynamic movement practice that people continue to partake in today in locations around the world. Though there are prompts and music, nothing is choreographed as dancers tap into the five rhythms: flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, stillness, which altogether make a ‘wave’. The aim is to connect mind and body, enhance creativity and deepen connection.

We’re witnessing a revival 

You might have noticed ecstatic dance cropping up more regularly these days, whether that’s in the wellbeing tent at a festival, at nature retreats like Waking The Wild Ones in Dartmoor or nestled down in Hackney Wick on a Sunday morning with Ecstatic Dance UK.

How to do ecstatic dancing

If your instinct is to bristle at the thought of dancing with wild abandon – even in your own home even with no one watching – you’re not alone.

In fact, it’s why many practitioners, like Marshall, include meditation as part of the ecstatic dance experience. “It’s to get people deeply connected to their body before we get up and start to dance.”

Marshall’s movement classes were a key part of her recovery journey from a serious illness that left her unable to walk. “I made a promise to myself that I was going to dance to just one song a day,” she says. 

In some respects, her classes are like a rave – amazing tunes, having the time of your life on the dance floor, losing all inhibitions – minus the hedonism.

“When I teach this work, that’s the big ‘aha’ moment,” Marshall says, explaining that ecstatic dance helps people understand that the high they’re chasing doesn’t come from substances but from being able to “dance and feel completely free within themselves in their mind and their body”.

Sometimes, if you’re able to let the body take over without thinking about what you’re doing, you can lose all sense of self-consciousness and all inhibitions. She describes this as a “kind of hypnosis”. 

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“That’s where people find the deep connection they’re looking for. That’s what this work is based around,” she continues. This is especially important, Marshall explains, if you’re going through a mental health journey, are coming back from or currently dealing with illness, living with stress or trauma. “The music and the movement combined is going to create that connection again.”

What music do I listen to in ecstatic dance?

Well, the answer is: anything goes, although Marshall – whose background is working in the music industry – likes to play drum-heavy, electronic music like tribal house, Afro house, drum and bass, reggae and reggaeton.

“I’ve taken inspiration from these methods and therapies that work for people and are all to do with the body, but I do it to tunes that you’d hear on a Friday night at a nightclub,” she explains, noting that music with a rhythmic beat harks back to the drum used to encourage movement in indigenous ecstatic dance practices. 

“That’s what gets people into this tribal movement where they’re not thinking. It’s just their body moving to the rhythm.”

The mental health benefits of ecstatic dance

Laura, a yoga teacher who runs The Mat Sanctuary in Streatham, started integrating ecstatic dance in her yoga and sound bath retreats last summer. “It regularly pops up, like a little surprise treat,” she says.

She recalls first coming across the practice in Bali: “It took me forever to summon up the courage to join the queue [for an ecstatic dance session], but I believe you regularly need to do something out of your comfort zone, so one day I did and there was no going back.”

Trauma release

Laura, like Marshall, tends to prepare her students with meditation, breathwork or body-shaking exercises ahead of dancing. Shaking out your body might sound strange, but, as Marshall points out to any of her students feeling iffy about it, trauma and tension relief exercises (TRE) are somatic, body-based practices shown to benefit those with PTSD. 

Laura’s ecstatic dance playlist includes Follow The Sun by Xavier Rudd, This Is The Life by Micky and Sweet by Cigarettes After Sex, for a “slow, crawly” mood.

Stress management

“Holding the breath, waking up the nervous system, getting the blood flowing, creating heat: these can call up a lot of emotions that will then be great to work within your dance. I’ve found myself crying more than once,” Laura says.

From stress and anxiety management to emotional release, ecstatic dance is therapeutic. Dance movement psychotherapy is recognised as a form of art therapy that can help with a range of emotional and esteem issues, while the NHS mental health trusts are trialling ‘social prescribing’ (which can include dance, yoga, gardening and more) to encourage non-medical avenues of support.

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While the beauty of ecstatic dance is that you can do it in the privacy of your own home, listening to your own tunes, one of the benefits the practice brings is a sense of connection with others around you.

Nervous system regulation

“It works so well in groups. When we look at the science, this is all to do with connection and co-regulation within nervous systems,” Marshall explains. When you’re dancing in a group setting, the energy from another person in the space can impact your own feelings and help ground you in the present. “That’s what people are looking for at all times, even if they’re not completely aware of it,” she says.

Given all the stresses of our current climate, getting out of our heads and letting our bodies take over – a workout and a release in one – might be exactly what many of us need.

“Some people feel so shy about looking silly that they can’t really let go and enjoy it on their first try. It’s not for everyone; [some people struggle] to hop and roll around without trying to look cool or worrying what others might think,” says Laura.

“But the trick is, close your eyes and pretend no one is watching.”

Images: Getty

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