Ecstatic dance is a form of dance in which the dancers, sometimes without the need to follow specific steps, release themselves to the rhythm and move freely as the music takes them, leading to trance and what is said to be a feeling of ecstasy. The effects of ecstatic dance begin with that ecstasy, which is described as being experienced in differing degrees. Dancers are described as feeling connected to others, and to their own emotions. The dance has been described as a form of meditation, sometimes used to help manage stress and to move towards a state of serenity.

In the ancient and widespread practice of shamanism, ecstatic dance and rhythmic drumming are used with the intention of altering consciousness in spiritual practices. Ecstatic sacred dances are known also from religious traditions around the world. Modern ecstatic dance was revived by Gabrielle Roth in the 1970s and formalised in her 5Rhythms practice; it is now found in variants across the western world.

Attitudes to ecstatic dance have varied widely. In the 1920s, musicologists such as Paul Nettl and Fritz Böhme considered it primitive and unrefined. More recently, it has been compared to dancing in raves and in club culture, the anthropologist Michael J. Winkelman and the musicologist Rupert Till finding in these forms elements of ritual, spirituality, and healing. The philosopher Gediminas Karoblis relates early ecstatic dance to religious ritual, stating that all well-executed dance borders on ecstasy.

Ecstasy (from Ancient Greek ἔκστασις ékstasis, in turn from ἐκ (ek, out) and ἵστημι (hístēmi, I stand) is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of his or her awareness. In classical Greek literature it meant the removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function."

The primary effect of ecstatic dance, as for instance in sacred dance, is intended to be ecstasy. The religious historian Mircea Eliade stated that shamans use dance, repetitive music, fasting, and hallucinogenic drugs to induce ecstasy. The ethnologist Maria-Gabriela Wosien identified four degrees of ecstasy that dancers may experience: "the warning, the whisper of inspiration, the prophecy, and finally the gift, the highest grade of inspiration."

The described effects of ecstatic dance include a feeling of connection with others, and with the dancer's own emotions; serving as a meditation, providing a way of coping with stress and restoring serenity; and serving as a spiritual practice. A psychological study has described it as "generating experiences of flow states, play, creativity, belonging and community". Lisa Fasullo of the Center for Transformative Movement in Boulder, Colorado and colleagues present ecstatic states as "accessible and like traditional meditative states – specifically yoga – as observable, identifiable, discernible, able to be sensed and experienced", and ecstatic dance as "an effective method of attaining these elevated and energized experiences, and ... of generating inner well-being". Roth identified specific emotions associated with the five different rhythms of ecstatic dance that she used, namely that she intended the flowing rhythm to connect the dancer with their own fear; the staccato rhythm with anger; chaos with sadness; lyrical with joy; and stillness with compassion.

Little is known directly of ecstatic dance in ancient times. However, Greek mythology tells several stories of the Maenads; the maenads were intoxicated female worshippers of the Greek god of wine, Dionysus, known for their "ecstatic revelations and frenzied dancing". The mythical female followers of Dionysus, including bacchants and thyiads as well as maenads, were said to have sought the "wild delirium" of possession by the god so they could "get out of themselves", which was called "ekstasis". The male counterparts of the Maenads were the Korybantes (Ancient Greek: Κορύβαντες), armed and crested ecstatic dancers who worshipped the Phrygian goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing. They were the offspring of the muse Thalia and the god Apollo. The Greeks often confused them with other ecstatic male confraternities, such as the Idaean Dactyls (Ancient Greek: Δάκτυλοι Ἰδαῖοι) or the Cretan Kouretes (Κουρῆτες), spirit-youths (kouroi) with magical powers who acted as guardians of the infant Zeus.

The myths gave rise to ancient Greek practices in honour of Dionysus. The oreibasia ("mountain dancing") was a midwinter Dionysian rite practised by women, and said to be originally an "unrestrained, ecstatic dance where the 'human' personality was temporarily replaced by another", though it eventually became structured into a definite ritual.