Conscious Dance Community Leadership

The Dance Community Leadership Training is our most comprehensive course and an ideal place to begin your conscious dance education. Rather than simply calling your dance “conscious,” this training invites you to build it consciously—with intention and care.

You’ll be supported to imagine, build, and nurture a successful dance community while learning the core foundations of conscious dance leadership, including introductory facilitation and music skills. Whether you already run a community or are ready to build one from the ground up, this training meets you where you are and helps you translate your vision into practical, achievable steps.

Through tools and guidance on topics such as venue negotiations, budget projections, team building, and marketing—areas often overlooked or treated as taboo within “conscious” culture—you’ll learn from leaders who have already walked this path and built thriving dance communities.

What Does Dance Leadership Look Like?

Successful dance leadership is both practical and relational. It requires vision, structure, and care, alongside the ability to respond to the real needs of dancers, teams, and communities.

In this training, we look at the foundational aspects common to all conscious dance settings, while supporting participants in discerning what will work best for the communities they are building. This includes discussing:

• How to attract and sustain a vibrant community over time

  
  

• Practical elements such as venue selection, team building, and marketing

• How to implement facilitation that creates a balance between containment and freedom of movement

• How to curate music—or find DJs—to deliver musical journeys that align with your vision

• Financial planning, pricing, and sustainable models relevant to your region

• How to grow a community grounded in healthy ethics and consent culture

• Why some conscious dance communities thrive while others struggle

The most common leadership questions—from finding the right venue and building a reliable team to creating financial sustainability—are addressed through real-world examples and lived insight from experienced leaders who have successfully built and sustained conscious dance communities.

Why This Training Is Different

Let’s face it: many who feel called to create meaningful conscious dance communities have little training in the practical, entrepreneurial, or event-production skills required to build and sustain them. These skills are often left out of conscious dance training curricula, where the focus tends to be on facilitation and musical skills—leaving organizers to figure out the rest on their own.

This program was created to address that gap. The Dance Community Leadership Training centers the practical side of dance community building, while maintaining the experiential and somatically based educational approach Dance The Medicine is known for. It focuses on the logistical realities of running and producing events, while staying rooted in the values that inspire conscious dance changemakers.

The curriculum is structured to support both immediate application and long-term growth, including:

• Why dance is such a powerful tool for building community

• Figuring out the time of day, day of the week, and length of the dance that works

• Proven approaches to building healthy teams and attracting diverse participants

• Navigating venue hire, event logistics, and real-world operational realities

• Outreach, communication, and relationship-based marketing

• Working skillfully with DJs, sound systems, and the technical aspects of event sound

• Creating financial models that support sustainability

• Foundational facilitation skills and ethics for community leaders

• Growing and evolving your community over time in ways that do not lead to burnout

Participants leave with practical tools, shared wisdom, and renewed confidence to build dance communities they are proud to be a part of—supported by an ongoing peer network within the Dance The Medicine community.

Stand-Alone Training or Part of a Pathway

The Dance Community Leadership Training can be taken as a stand-alone course for professional development, whether you are building a new community or supporting an existing one. If you are already trained in another conscious dance modality, this course is complementary.

This course also counts toward the training hours and coursework requirements for those interested in the broader Professional DTM Dance Facilitation Certification Pathway. Read more about this here.

Training Options

We offer flexible ways to engage with this training:

• In-Person Training An immersive week guided by experienced leaders in conscious dance and community building.

  
  

• Online Courses Live Interactive modules you can join from anywhere, with group dialogue, embodied practice, and support.

• Self-Led Course Structured modules you can follow at your own pace, complete with video lessons, a leadership manual, and tools for practice.

Who This Training Is For

This training is ideal for:

✔ People dreaming of starting their own Ecstatic Dance community 

✔ Facilitators of other conscious dance modalities wanting to strengthen their business

 ✔ DJs and facilitators seeking a broader understanding of event and community building 

✔ Event organizers looking for sustainable and embodied approach to grow their existing community 

✔ Anyone drawn to creating thriving, embodied, connected conscious dance communities

Graduates go on to host events, grow weekly dances, teach classes, and support conscious dance culture around the world. The proof of this course is reflected in our many successful alumni.

Next Steps

Explore the available formats and dates, and choose the option that best fits your timing and vision.

Still have questions about this training? Check out our Leadership Training FAQ!