One of my favorite books is Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) and in one famous scene, Sir William is extolling dance as an exemplar of culture and elegance. Darcy observes that every savage can dance.

To put it more elegantly: Dancing has always been a part of human culture, rituals, and celebrations. It promotes creativity, as well as healthy minds and bodies.

According to a friend of mine who belly dances, that form of dancing does all of the above. “Belly dancing has historic roots in fertility rites or celebrations in some areas. I’ve performed at baby showers and bachelorette parties. It’s so much fun, and I’ve met so many friends through dancing. It also helps me stay in shape and keep flexible. I get to design costumes, learn music, and create choreography while learning this amazing art form!”

Obviously, any given dance might serve multiple purposes. For this blog, I’ll focus on three categories.

Ceremonial Dance

Since humans formed societies, social groups have created or performed ceremonial dances for rituals or celebrations. People use ceremonial dances all over the world for worship, or to celebrate life events. The unique British tradition of Morris dancing, for example, is performed at seasonal festivals and holidays to banish the dark of winter, celebrate the warmth and fertility of summer, and bring in autumn’s golden harvest. The category of ceremonial dance also includes classical Indian dances, war dances, corroboree, Căluşari, and dances of Native American and West African culture.

Rain Dances

Many agricultural societies have a tradition of rain dances. These dances ask the gods or spirits to send water for crops during the planting season. Other rain dances ask for rain during long periods of dry, hot weather. In Romania and Moldova, a young girl dresses in a skirt made of corn husks and dances through the village streets while people splash water on her. In 2022, the Dumagat tribe performed a rain dance during a drought in the Philippines. They claimed success as it rained three days later.

In the Southwestern United States, many tribes, including the Pueblo, Hopi, Zuni, and Apache, have elaborate rain dance traditions. The specifics of the dances vary from tribe to tribe. Most tribes have unique rituals and costumes, with some tribes wearing headdresses and others wearing masks.

In the early 19th century, the United States government banned certain ceremonial dances. To bypass these strict laws, tribal members would mask their ceremonial performances as “rain dances.”

Dance for Recreation and Community

This is any form of dancing that is for entertainment, fitness, fun, or strengthening community ties. Also known as social dancing, it uses dance without too much structure, as a way to let loose and express one’s own individual personality. Dancers focus less on form and technique and more on the joy they feel from dancing. Examples of recreational dancing include ballroom, line dancing, aerobic dance, or dance as a hobby.

Ballroom Dance

Historians trace the history of ballroom dance back to the 16th century in Europe, where it was primarily a social activity for the upper classes. However, it wasn’t until the 19th century that participants began to formalize and standardize ballroom.

Commonly used as shorthand for any partner dance, ballroom has today evolved into two main sub-genres: standard/smooth and Latin/rhythm. Dances within these categories include the waltz, tango and foxtrot, and the pasodoble, bolero, and samba.

Ballroom is a popular form of competitive dance, or dancesport, with dancers participating in competitions all over the world.

Who can think of ballroom dancing without envisioning Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers? Well, certainly not people of a certain age or old movie buffs.

The duo made 10 movies together in the 1930s and ‘40s. Their unique style was graceful and complex, while looking effortless. Perhaps the clearest legacy today are Fred Astaire Dance Studios, such as this one near Richmond, VA.

Community Dancing

Community dancing often requires no formal training, choreography, or practice. It is sometimes completely spontaneous, such as mosh pits at rock and heavy metal concerts. Though communities often dance together at celebrations, such as weddings or birthdays, the dancing is not necessarily part of the ceremony.

There are many benefits to dancing in a group. Dancing together creates the same sense of group identity as singing or chanting in unison. Participants experience a reduction in stress and a release of endorphins.

In some instances, a Master of Ceremonies calls out steps for the group to follow. A dancemaster sometimes calls Irish céilí steps at social dances. The Electric Slide and the Cha-Cha Slide, popular at American weddings, feature a singer directing the participants in a simple choreography.

Some dances, like the Macarena, permeate society so thoroughly that it seems everyone knows the choreography. Other dances, like Armenian group dances, are simple and repetitive enough for beginners to follow the steps of more experiences dancers.

Within marginalized communities, dancing is often a way of finding community and demonstrating belonging. Ballroom culture (not to be confused with ballroom dancing) in the United States grew from the gatherings of LGBT+ African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Participants combine recreational, community dancing with dancing for artistic expression. Dancers vogue, strut, and catwalk in elaborate choreographies and costumes to represent their “houses” and found families. Depending on one’s definition of ceremony and ritual, participating in these events could also be seen as modern cultural rites for people who have been denied acceptance in the cultures they were born into.

Dance for Artistic Expression

Many artists dance with the primary intent to express or communicate emotion, feelings, and/or ideas. These dancers, including ballet, tap, and modern dancers, often perform in a concert or theatrical setting to an audience. Using rhythmic, patterned, or improvised body movement, it’s one of the oldest art forms found in every culture around the world.

For many people, artistic expression conjures images of ballet. Ballet developed during the Italian Renaissance, before evolving in France and Russia into concert dancing meant for public performance. Ballet choreographers often use classical music.

Harlequin Floors—a purveyor of dance floors—lists what they call popular types of dance on their blog. Ballroom and ballet are perennial favorites, but dancing doesn’t stop there!

Contemporary Dance

Developed during the mid-twentieth century, contemporary dance is now one of the most popular and technical forms of dancing studied and performed professionally, especially in the US and Europe. Drawing on classical, modern and jazz dance styles, contemporary dance has evolved to incorporate many characteristics of a broader range of dance forms. Known for its emphasis on strong torso and legwork, contract and release, fall and recovery, and floor work, it often features unpredictable and disordered changes in speed and rhythm throughout a performance.

Hip Hop Dance

Hip-hop dancing refers to a range of street dances that developed in relation to hip hop music and culture. Hip-hop dancing dates back to the early 1970s in New York and California, evolving out of Funk and the development of break beat. Main styles of hip-hop dancing include Breaking, Locking and Popping, with derivative styles emerging out of these including Memphis Jookin’, Turfing, Jerkin’ and Krumping. These were often popularized and made mainstream after being featured in music videos of the time.

Today, hip-hop is performed in outdoor spaces, in dance studios, and competitively. Unlike many competitive dance styles, hip-hop is often improvisational with dance crews challenging each other to dance battles.

Jazz

Jazz dancing has its roots in seventeenth-century African traditions. People brought to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade continued dancing traditions in Brazil, the US, and elsewhere in North and South America. Known for its improvisational and dramatic body movements, jazz dancing grew in popularity in early twentieth-century jazz clubs.

Today, jazz dancing builds on African American vernacular dance styles that emerged along with jazz music in the United States. Swing, the Lindy Hop, the Shimmy, and the Charleston are popular kinds of jazz dances.

Tap

Tap dancing is a type of percussive dance characterized by the “tap” of shoes hitting the floor as the person dances. Tap dancers often wear metal “taps” on the heel and toe of a shoe to accentuate the sound. Frequently performed as part of musical theater, tap dancing often focuses on choreography and formations, with more than one tap dancer performing at once.

Tap dancing characterizes a range of dances including flamenco, rhythm, classical, Broadway, and postmodern tap.

Folk

Folk dancing is celebrated worldwide. People of different cultures and religions use various forms of folk dance to portray emotions, stories, historical events or even aspects of daily life. Some well known types of folk dance include: Bharatanatyam (India), Samba (Brazil) and Hula (Hawaii). Some cultures may even perform multiple variations of folk dances, with countries like South Korea performing individual dances for key events such as victories in war, farming, music and religion. Folk dances are commonly held at public events, where people can participate regardless of whether they are professional or complete beginners. Such dances are often accompanied by traditional music to further enhance the cultural experience.

Irish

Traditional Irish folk dance has been popular for hundreds of years amongst Irish people and other countries worldwide. The first recording of the rinnce fada (long dance) in Ireland was in 1689, when James II first came to Ireland. Popularized by shows such as Riverdance, Irish dancing is famously known for its fabulous display of footwork and dance formations. Most Irish dancing events are traditionally accompanied by signing and music. During festivals, dancers compete for trophies or medals to showcase their talents. While most people may recognize Irish dancing as being a group performance, there are many well-known forms of  solo Irish dances, such as the stepdance.

Modern

Modern dance, a broad genre of dance, primarily arose from western countries such as the USA and Germany during the late 1900s. While most forms of dance feature set steps and formalized structure, the purpose of modern dance is to rely on the dancer’s interpretation of the music and feeling to guide movements. Modern dance was initially born out of dislike for the limitations of traditional dances such as ballet, which enforced rigid rules and techniques. Currently, modern dance is enjoyed across the world with participants having the ability to practice ballet-like dancing without having to place strict focus on their techniques or turnout. Instead, dancers can choose a piece of music and use unconventional movements to convey emotions or to tell a meaningful story.

Swing

Swing is a variation of jazz dance. It developed during the 1920s to the 1940s as a response to the growing popularity of swing jazz music in America, encouraging faster, more rigorous movements. The Lindy Hop was the first form of swing, stemming from variations of the Charleston perfected by Black dancers in Harlem. Other popular forms of swing dance include the Lindy Charleston, the Jitterbug, and the Balboa, many of which are still performed today. Big Band music, whether live or on a recording, commonly accompanied swing dancing events.

Swing dance gained huge popularity in England thanks to the influence of American servicemen stationed there during World War II.

Pacu Jalur

And then there’s an annual dance event reported on in the Wall Street Journal (8/19/25). Where would you include this dance?

Kuantan Singingi, Indonesia holds an annual boat race, called Pacu Jalur, dating back to a 17th century celebration commemorating Queen Wilhelmina’s birthday during the Dutch rule. Today, it coincides with Indonesia’s Independence Day. Some 200 boats compete in a series of races, culminating in the main event, six-tenths of a mile long and lasting approximately two minutes. The hull of the jalur (boat) is usually 100 feet long, made from a single tree. Each boat is powered by 40 to 75 male rowers.

So where does the dancing come in? Each boat also has one dancer (anak joki)—always a boy for minimal weight and ability to balance while dancing on the bow, which is less than 1 foot wide! He wears traditional Malay outfits, cheers on the rowers, and performs 20-second dances to signal to bystanders when his boat is ahead. Each boat dancer has his own routine.

Today the most famous dancer is Dikha, whose dance—appearing effortlessly cool, smooth, and easy to copy—has been mimicked in celebratory dances by a football star, a soccer player, an F1 driver, as well as miscellaneous people at the office, on their cars, and inside Costco. Dikha’s dance mimics fanning air, flying, and shooting guns.

Bottom Line: “Dance”—for a plethora of reasons—has always been with us. Dare I predict it always will be? Enjoy!