Music, Movement, Medicine
Welcome to Ecstatic Dance MatlockStep into a dance journey that wakes you up from the inside out. No steps to learn. No expectations. Just freedom, music, movement - a place to release, recharge, shift energies and reconnect with your body.We dance every other Sunday in the beautiful Florence Nightingale Memorial Hall in Holloway, Matlock surrounded by Derbyshire’s stunning, magical landscape. This unique setting gives your mind the chance to rest while your body opens, releases and leads the way.Whether you’re new to Ecstatic Dance or already familiar with the practice, you’re invited to be part of our Matlock dance community — a space to connect, grow and move together.
What is Ecstatic Dance?
Ecstatic Dance is medicine for the body, heart and spirit.It’s a freeform, barefoot, sober dance journey where you’re invited to move exactly as you feel — no steps, no performance, no judgment, no pressure to be anything other than yourself.In Ecstatic Dance, we explore movement as a form of healing. You might:- Feel joyful and expansive
- Move through frustration, sadness, resistance, or release
- Find yourself flowing, shaking, stretching, or resting
- Move through many different emotions during the same dance.
- Everything is welcome. There is no right or wrong way to dance.
What to expect
- We begin with a meditation. This helps shift from daily life and into the dance space and encourages presence and a calming of the nervous system.- We dance with wireless headphones. It can help dancers drop into their bodies faster. People often describe the experience as being deeply immersive.- We go on a journey through various styles of music from across the world. This takes us on a wave of energies from slow and spacious, flowing, building into tribal rhythms, electronic and ecstatic peaks, then settling back down into deep calm and stillness.- Integrate - where we take time to connect after the dance in a circle with the option to share. This is a beautiful way to finish, reconnecting the group energy and helping the transition back to everyday awareness.
Our dance guidelines
The following guidelines help ensure we hold the space as a community and create a trusting, safe environment.
No talking on the dance floor. This helps everyone drop into their body, their breath and the music.
Barefoot dancing is encouraged. This helps you feel grounded, supports natural movement and lets you sense the floor beneath you. Socks are fine if preferred.
Sober space. Ecstatic Dance is a conscious space so we dance without alcohol or drugs.
This is screen free time! Mobile phones are on silent and away. No photography or filming are permitted during the dance.
You do you. All movement is welcome - big, small, wild, still, eyes open or closed. All are invited to respect themselves and others’ expressions through dance without judgment.
