The dance floor as urban altar: how ecstatic dancers transform­the­lived­experience­of­cities­

As I walk up from the Oakland subway on a Sunday morning, rain is falling in a slow drizzle and the downtown street is deserted. Around the corner I spot the “Tropicana Ballroom” sign on a 1920s building that is my destination. I pay $15­at­the­entrance­and­walk­up­the­red-carpeted­stairs­to­a­ballroom.­Art­deco­ wall­sconces­softly­glow­onto­an­8,000-square-foot­floor­full­of­dancers­warming­ up.­On­the­far­side­of­the­dance­floor,­beneath­floor-to-ceiling­windows,­a­vase­ of gladiolas, candles, a statue of Shiva and Zen Tarot cards have been placed on a table to create an altar. A young woman sits cross-legged in meditation in front of the altar; the man next to her is kneeling and praying, and two hundred other dancers-ranging in age from infants wearing padded ear coverings to men and women in their seventies-are preparing to “sweat their prayers” on­ the­ dance­floor.­ In­Los­Angeles,­Oakland,­Dallas,­New­York,­Amsterdam,­ Berlin, and many smaller cities and college towns, “Silicon Valley Shamanic disco,” “Sacred Groove,” “Barefoot Boogie,” “Ecstatic Sunday Mass,” “Dance Temple,” “Mindful Meltdown,” “Soul Sanctuary Dance” and “Soul Shake Dance Church” attract dancers of all ages and ethnic backgrounds for whom movement is­a­prayer­and­the­dance­floor­an­urban­altar.1 At urban dance events, ecstatic dancers transform the lived experience of cities at the same time that cities make possible these spaces for dancers’ own spiritual transformation.