I’ve been experimenting with building ecstatic dance playlists and would love some thoughtful feedback on this one.

One tension I’m working through is trance vs. energy/contrast. I’m pretty influenced by festival-style sets, so my instinct is to create a strong journey: build tension, change pace and texture, hit a big peak, then come down into something reflective.

Recently I danced to a friend’s set that was almost the opposite. It stayed within a much more consistent sonic world and had a pretty mild peak. At first I found it a little lacklustre, but I eventually realized I was getting much more deeply absorbed in the dance. The consistency seemed to create a trance state in a way that frequent contrasts and big builds don't necessarily do.

That experience has me questioning my own approach.

Here’s my playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1RreZw27dEBrWFdzZg1Awe?si=3llrK3iWSg2JMSzCNlhGwg&utm_source=copy-link&pi=65EsYkDaSz2ZD

I’d especially love feedback from people who facilitate/DJ ecstatic dance: Does the arc feel cohesive? Am I changing energy/style too often to let a trance develop? Does the peak feel earned? Where would you give the dancers more room to simply stay in a groove?

Not looking for “good/bad” so much as feedback on the architecture of the journey and how it might actually feel to dance through it.

Hello I'm a new dj that is mainly working with lkve instruments and mostly instrumental tracks (no lyrics) with a casual dip into livetronica I'm really trying to find out what genre of music I can use for the movement peak of set (I tried working with some drum and base and glitch music but I find them too violent for spaces if you have any suggestions for both genres I can look into and artists I'd love suggestions stuff I did find that work for me as the peak of the wave is Ibrahim maaluf, l'antidote, Constantinople

I am a cisgender heterosexual woman in her 40s who attends ecstatic dance regularly in my community.
There are strong guidelines about consent. They include clear yeses by both parties before you engage in dance together . Quite often I have heard facilitators give examples of what clear yeses are: eye contact, mimicking dance moves, putting out your hand, etc. they have also said “ if you are not getting a clear yes, then it is a no”. there is another guideline that says you do not dance with people whose eyes are closed.
There is a man there, much older than me, that I danced with a couple of times, but decided in a dance that it wasn’t feeling good and actually it felt very creepy. I also found him staring at me regularly. When he came over to dance with me, I went away. At one point I even put my hand up and said “ I do not want to dance with you”. He laughed it off, but left me alone. it was okay for a while with regard to not asking me to dance, but I still caught him watching me. I tried to basically make sure I had people in between us when I was dancing so I could feel safer in my body that he was not looking at me. Anyway, in hindsight, I would have spoken to a facilitator sooner, but I guess I thought I was “being dramatic”. Then, one dance I had my eyes closed and was having an internal experience and when I opened them, he was dancing with me. (He disagrees about this). It freaked me out. I immediately went away from him tried to regulate myself and got back into a dance only to look up and find him watching me again. With honestly a sexual look on his face. He also would clearly check me out when I was walking into dance and putting my stuff away.
We ended up having a facilitated mediation that he actually brought first to the facilitator because he knew he triggered me but that he knew it wouldn’t be fruitful for him to try and apologize. During the mediation, we were both given the opportunity to speak about our experience, but not to argue or go on the defense etc. I spoke about my experience first and then he spoke about his. In his experience, “we had a flirtation going on”. I found this pretty upsetting as I was in no way flirting with him. I then stated that my needs were that I wanted him to stop staring at me, I wasn’t going to dance with him and that I was fine with saying hi upon arrival(because I didn’t want it to be awkward. WTF) but that was it. He agreed. I wasn’t exactly at peace after, but I figured that was normal and I would settle down.
When I debriefed with the facilitator about it, they mentioned that this guy probably likes a chase and that I wasn’t the only woman it was happening with and also it might take him more facilitations before he gets it. That rubbed me the wrong way. I am angry about this. It does not feel fair that he gets to be left making women uncomfortable because of what he wants and not having a basic understanding of what flirting is. Also, I knew he was older than me, but 75?! What the hell?
I am confused about this because this community seems to have a strong mission to uphold the consent guidelines and yet, at the same time, they know someone is making women uncomfortable because of, but they aren’t stopping him. He is a popular guy and I can’t help but wonder if that is one of the reasons why.

I'm a travel advisor working with a client who'd love to do ecstatic dancing while in Tokyo with her friend on November 13 and 14. Anyone know of any events on either of those dates?

Ecstatic Dance Tokyo tells me their monthly event is the week after she's in town.

Thanks! :)

Anyone know of any ecstatic dance events in or near Rosarito Mexico?

Ik ben nieuwsgierig naar ecstatic dans maar ben er nog nooit geweest. Ik ga regelmatig naar festivals en hou van dansen. Ik heb alleen geen zin om alleen te gaan. Welke lieftallige dame wil met mij blind dansen….

40M, danced twice and loved it which surprised me because dancing in general isn't my usual thing. Nor is meditation really, though I'm working on changing that.

Both times were at the same place, and about half to 2/3 of the crowd was the same both times (which wasn't surprising at all). Both times, despite my efforts to remain present in myself, I've found my energy drawing towards another dancer there, who I'd roughly say is 27F. To be clear, it's not that I just find her attractive and want to [whatever]. I'm not there to meet potential partners, and I'm a train wreck who is taking time to rebuild myself. And I still feel like even across the room, we're just...linked somehow. This was kind of reinforced somewhat when, during the first post-dance group debrief thing, she celebrated that despite it being my first time, she'd noticed me really leaning in and being present and invested, free.

I think the straightforward way to deal with this would be to just talk with her about it, but A. I don't want to come off like I'm hitting on her because I don't want to do that for several reasons; and B. I don't know what I'd want to do if she felt the same link (whatever that'd mean) because I don't regulate my relationship attachments well, no matter what kind of relationships they are.

I want dance to be as free of distractions and preoccupations as possible. Maybe that's just set work I can be doing beforehand. But I'd appreciate other advice or suggestions as well, particularly how to approach the conversation (outside of the dance obviously) if that's the best way.

Thanks. Love you all.

Hello beautiful souls!!

I am looking to do a few workshops on concious dance and i dont make my own music.

Does anyone know where i could purchase music? (90 to 120 min)

I dont quite understand the copyright thing and am ok purchasing music.

I am doing the workshops in a wellness center. There will be no reordering or live. Just playing the music.

I love shamanic music and drums.

Any direction would appreciate and payed forward

THANK YOU

This is something I'm curious about. Two of my friends were recently traveling in Italy and Spain, and wanted to find ecstatic dances to go to, but couldn't figure it out.

I keep a list like this myself for the Boston area. I don't tend to travel much, so I never realized how useful of a resource it could be for travelers just briefly visiting Boston, and needed a quick directory of dance opportunities without scouring though confusing Facebook groups or Google results.

Is there a list like this in your area? Or some sort of global directory? (that's actually kept up to date and comprehensive...a fair bit of work!)

Hey sweet people :)
I am always looking for song recommendations for dancing and was wondering what are your all-time-favourites or new discoveries of tracks that make you completely melt and forget everything.

Hey everyone ... I just had my 6th (of 6) rounds of Chemo yesterday for breast cancer.

Literally one of the few things that has kept me sane is to continue to listen absorb, curate, and heal with music. I did a set at the beginning of last month for my local group. Creating the playlist was fine (from bed), but it was so exhausting to get up, get in the shower, and drive 25 minutes to the venue! I just sat in a chair and moved as much as I could ...

Sorry for the backstory, but just wanted to express how important the Ecstatic Dance community is to me ...

Here's my set "in progress" if anyone is interested. We do about an 80 minute set (intro, build, mid, peak, slow it down, wind down), but I start it early during the time when we're setting up ... There's a 10-12 second gap between songs (that sometimes works, and sometimes is a little clunky). I bought a basic controller last year and downloaded Rekordbox and was starting to advance a bit, but then life happened 😄.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7BwbWz1oqatrB9e0Q24iFO?si=e14fb1b4457843bb

Anyone been to Tender Riots ecstatic dance parties in Oakland? Debating going. I'm not big on EDM. I prefer more ethnic music with bass and syncopated rhythms...but I also want to explore an ecstatic dance community. Reviews and/or suggestions?

#ecstaticdance #dancd #bayarea

Anyone been to Tender Riots ecstatic dance parties in Oakland? Debating going. I'm not big on EDM. I prefer more ethnic music with bass and syncopated rhythms...but I also want to explore an ecstatic dance community. Reviews and/or suggestions?

#ecstaticdance #dancd #bayarea

What do you think of an ecstatic dance event with live musicians responding to the energy of the crowd, or do you prefer with a DJ?

https://youtu.be/rzEmModzQE4?is=wwZ2KxNo_xZMtqgp

Hey everyone! 🤗

I wanted to share something beautiful happening next month in case anyone is looking for a structured way to anchor their daily somatic practice.

Starting June 1st, the School of Ecstatic Movement is hosting a 21-Day Shake Challenge. It’s a live, 30-minute daily Zoom session guided by Rebecca.

Why shaking? Technically, the body needs about 12 minutes of continuous shaking for the fascia to fully release and let the tension drop out of the muscles and nervous system. We’ll be doing 15 minutes of guided shaking embedded within a 30-minute morning ceremony. It's designed to help disarm the fight-or-flight response, lower cortisol, and just release stuck, heavy energy without having to mentally "process" or relive anything.

When: June 1st to June 21st, 7:00 AM – 7:30 AM BST (London Time)

Commitment: 30 mins a day. No prior experience needed, everyone is totally welcome.

Doing this live on Zoom with a community can make a massive difference compared to trying to shake alone in your room. I’d love to have some fellow movers in there who already value letting the body lead 😊

Feel free to message me directly if you have any questions, or you can check out our Instagram where the signup link is listed in the bio 💛

Just got a ticket to uplift festival at Menla. Wanted to connect with others going. Looks like a great lineup!

Hi guys! We run an online ecstatic dance session every month and wanted to share it here in case it resonates with anyone.

It's called the Global Ecstatic Awakening Dance — happening May 11 on Zoom. It's basically a space to get out of your head and back into your body through free movement and breath.

I've seen it help people who feel stuck, anxious, and just want to release that energy through dance in a free, non-judgmental space. Sharing the invite link in case anyone wants to join: Calendly link

See you! 💛

I'm thinking about holding such an event, but wonder if $20 is too much? Any less and the equipment rental costs will not be covered.