In 2009, Christine Ottery of the Guardian used her column space to defend the art of ecstatic dancing, likening the activity to “discovering that you’ve got second, third, fourth, and fifth gears of perception when you’ve been ambling along in first.” In other words, ecstatic or ritual dancing allows the mind to escape from its cognitive processes and into its less tapped—and more focused, creative, and transcendent—resources.

The ecstatic dance teachers at TO Dance would be hard-pressed to disagree, encouraging people from all walks of life to let loose and try ritual-dance sessions. Teachers Kai and Serah offer Shamanic Sound, which allows participants to unite through healing, cleansing sounds. Ken leads Danskinetics classes, a fusion of yoga and dance, while Alexandra teaches Neuromuscular Integrative Action, a movement technique that blends dance, healing, and martial arts.