The following guidelines are typical of those followed at hundreds of conscious dances around the world, having been developed through community discussions and agreement over decades. Please let us know If you have questions about any of them.

Before You Arrive

  • Be clean​. Please arrive fresh with a clean body and clothes, as some of us are very sensitive to strong body odors or any scented products (including essential oils).
  • Be clear-minded. We dance free of alcohol and other inebriating substances.
  • Leave your shoes and phones off the dance floor. And please leave any valuables at home or safely hidden in your car. (Note: If you need shoes for foot health, we welcome soft-soled shoes that have not been worn outside.)
  • Dress to sweat (and for gender equity). Bring layers. Everyone must keep a top on.

Holding a Safe and Sacred Space

  • Dance and move how it feels good. Be curious, open, and accepting. There's no right or wrong way to be ecstatic! Please suspend judgements of self or other.
  • Move with care and mindfulness through the space. Help us avoid any collisions on the dance floor. And in this time of covid, help us maintain social distance by not moving into other people's dance space unless invited.
  • Refrain from talking on the dance floor or in the shoe area. Take all conversations out to the lobby or outdoors.
  • We are a consent-based community. Be aware of others' personal boundaries—Ecstatic Dance is very contact-friendly, but we all have different levels of comfort when it comes to being approached and touched. Only give attention or contact to whom enthusiastically welcomes it. Get secondary consent before lifting someone. See here for complete details on our Culture of Consent.
  • Turn off your cell phone. Cell phone use is a distraction to the other dancers, even in the shoe area. And there's no taking photos or videos—that takes people out of their deep experience and is a breach of privacy.

Being with Our Music

Our particular approach to Ecstatic Dance opens with flowing music to warm-up the body, builds steadily in tempo & intensity to reach peaks of ecstasy, and eventually glides into meditative, heart-chakra stillness. During the journey we play a very wide variety of music across different genres. If there's a song you don't prefer or that doesn't seem danceable at first, we invite you to be curious and try to discover it in your body. Or use it as an opportunity to work with the judgements that arise. Or hold witness for how others are feeling the music. Or take a break to visit our altar or get some water. Just know that the music keeps changing, so something different is coming soon.