The dance itself can be freeform or have a predefined choreography that may or may not align with traditions of origin or historical periods. Dance can serve various functions—social, competitive, ceremonial, martial, erotic—but it also has two distinct forms:  

Theatrical Dance:

In this form, dancers perform for an audience with elaborate choreography, planning, costumes, scenery, and other elements that make the production more professional.

Participatory Social Dance:

This form encourages group dancing for joy, freedom, and happiness, or for expressing emotions and liberating oneself from mental limitations.

You can dance externally or internally, for others or for healing your entire being, and it doesn’t matter what it looks like. Dancing with choreography, learning dance steps, being part of a group, and creating art can bring joy and happiness by engaging the mind. Holistic dance, on the other hand, opens up the heart and lets divine energy flow through you. Dancing is freedom, love, and happiness. Once you heal internally, your external world changes.

Origins and Early History

Dance has always been with us, even before the arrival of written language and modern history. Our earliest cultures used oral and performance methods to pass stories from one generation to the next. Many historians believe that social, celebratory, and ritual dances were essential factors in the development of early human civilizations.