Mental health struggles are often hidden. When people dance publicly, joyfully, and without shame, we bring attention to mental health matters through a positive and accepting lens. Its OK not to be OK. AND Its OK to feel joy, too. Life is not only worth living, but worth celebrating.

“Just dancing” has the largest effect of any treatment for depression (source).

Dancing brings you into the body and into the present moment. Research shows it has a range of therapeutic effects, including increasing mindfulness (source).

There is strong empirical evidence for the beneficial stress regulatory effects of music, social contact, and movement, illustrating that dance can promote coping and foster resilience (source).

Those who dance together, bond together. Participants who dance in synchrony report increased feelings of liking, interpersonal trust, willingness to help and heightened sense of being similar (source).

Dance interventions can have positive effects on aspects of the participants' self. Studies suggest children/adolescents benefit in body-related perceptions, self-trust, self-esteem, self-expression; adults benefit in self-expression, self-efficacy, self-/body-awareness, self-development and self-confidence (source)

Results indicate that regardless of style, adults who participated in dance interventions showed a reduction in symptoms of anxiety (depression and stress) compared to groups that did not participate in any type of intervention (source).

Socio-cultural considerations of dance help us understand why dance might have unique effects. Dance can be seen as a universal form of human expression, offering a communal space for bonding, healing, and collective coping strategies (source).

Dances, especially those involving two or more dancers, also confer the possibility for dancers to develop the abilities to recognize, understand, and share their dance partners' thoughts and feelings, that is, empathy (source).

Imaging studies have suggested that dance has neuroprotective effects, preventing age-related degeneration of the brain for memory functions (source).

Talking about mental illness can feel heavy. Dancing together in public flips the script — sparking conversations in a light, playful, and stigma-busting way. Seeing a crowd move freely makes mental health approachable and human, not clinical or distant.

We have danced with the disabled, deaf, LBGTQ+, victims of war, migrant, and unhoused communities. Learn more about our work with these communities here.