The Magical and Mysterious Healing Power of Trance Music
On March 23, 2020, Paul Van Dyk, the benevolent philosopher king of electronic dance music, gathered with DJ producer Chris Bekker at Anomalie Berlin for a “music night.” This was a five hour set shared live over YouTube, and included the classic driving bass lines, euphoric melodies, and uplifting lyrics of trance music. Periodically, Van Dyk paused to ask for donations to help keep Berlin’s clubs afloat during the mandated COVID shutdown, or to share inspiring and affirmative messages of hope, resilience, and kindness in the face of fear and uncertainty. 19,539 people viewed “Music Night #1.”
Dancing to trance has no steps involved. No one has to learn any complicated body compositions or foot counts. You can dance alone, or in a group. You can wear heels, a tutu, blue jeans and t-shirt, or nothing at all. It is a -come as you are, come as you feel-type of experience. These “unchoreographed movements” encourage “self-discovery” when dancers are open to the flow of music in a supportive and welcoming space. Dancing is good physical fitness, but it is beneficial for brain health as well. In a 2003 study, researchers from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine explored how various types of movement impacted older people’s dementia risk.
Of the 11 types of physical activity included in the study, only one -dancing- measurably lowered the risk of dementia. Dance, with its features of physical movement and social interaction, engages the brain in a multi-dimensional experience of expression.
After three more Sunday music night sets, Van Dyk relocated the live broadcast from an empty club to his private home in Berlin on April 12, 2020. His message evolved from “let’s keep Berlin’s clubs alive during this momentary lock down,” to “let’s look out for each other and keep our hearts alive during this global pandemic.” From this inspiration, Sunday Sessions were born.
Each session was live over YouTube. In the minutes before the music opened, comments flooded the channel. Messages of inspiration, support, encouragement, optimism, and magic poured in from all over the planet. Comments in Spanish, English, Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Thai, Italian, and many more, illustrated the rich and diverse global dance community. During a historical moment of fear and isolation, Van Dyk was using his influence to create a virtual space that felt welcoming and joyful.
Although all dance is healthy for the mind, body, and spirit, EDM in particular, or Electronic Dance Music, has a reputation for improving mood, for activating a flow-state, and for alleviating general feelings of malaise and anxiety. Its engaging, rhythmic musical patterns ease stress and create a calming effect, while the brain releases a hormone cocktail associated with healthy coping strategies and emotional resilience. According to EDM.com, an analysis of Spotify playlist tracks and respondent surveys (in a study designed to help independent healthcare practices), illustrated that one in ten respondents identified EDM as their “go-to” choice when feeling down. Additionally, EDM lovers are significantly more likely to call themselves happy or “mentally healthy.” In a deeper study through the Frontiers in Psychology, research was conducted to explore the harmonic structure of trance music to identify why listeners found so much “enjoyment” in it. As they discovered, the balance of complexity, repetition, and “melodic originality” of EDM fell within “peak pleasantness” of “enjoyment ratings” among participants.
This is all very scientific for what members of the EDM community live in our experience: the depth of the music creates space to connect with the depth of emotion, energy, and complexity within each of us, that may feel stifled or ignored in daily life. In a world that tends to “measure time in coffee spoons,” a pause to feel in flow, to be in the orbit of only space and sensation, is a liberation.
As his pandemic-era events evolved, Van Dyk eventually integrated an interactive option into his Sunday Sessions. A Zoom link was connected to the YouTube channel and viewers could join as a participant into the virtual dance party. Everyone who joined over Zoom was shared on a screen projected behind Van Dyk as he spun his magical music. At various times, producers selected one of the participants to be visible on the entire screen. We saw a multi-generational family dancing together in the darkness of their crowded kitchens somewhere in Asia; a group of young people sharing one cell phone watching together from a dusty street in their village, who burst into broad smiles, hands waving, when they noticed they were featured on the big screen; an American family seated on their couch while their toddler played at their feet; an older couple dancing together on a beach at dusk; a single man wearing headphones, giving the camera a thumbs up. Many people held signs, some in English, some in other languages. “Greetings from Canada!” “With love, from Vietnam!” “From Los Angeles to everyone else!” Some had flags, some toasted drinks, many danced. We were together in this beautiful reminder that the world is small and we are all connected.
The Sunday Sessions were at the same time every week, which was early afternoon in the US Eastern time zone. I typically listened while out on a walk. One day, I decided to join over Zoom, although I had some insecurity about half a million people from across the planet perhaps seeing me. But I turned on my camera anyway, and as the music whispered its opening melody, I lifted my dog (a white fluffy Maltipoo) out of my lap and moved her front legs back and forth to the rhythm of the sound. At that moment, Van Dyk smiled and bent out of the screen. He returned with his dog, a small dog with fluffy white fur, and he cradled it in his arms as he swayed with the baseline. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but I want to believe that Van Dyk and I shared a moment of magic through our dogs. Sunday Session #56 on December 19, 2021, was the last virtual dance party he hosted. Van Dyk closed the space playing John Lennon’s “Imagine,” while again holding his beloved dog in his arms, and swayed and singing quietly, “imagine all the people, sharing all the world…”
In January 2025, I had the opportunity to attend Seattle’s longest running ecstatic dance session. About 50 people gathered at Dance Underground in Capitol Hill, where sessions have been held since 2001. We opened with a circle and the facilitator shared our group’s agreements, and then the DJ guided us through the peaks and valleys of the lilt and crescendo of upbeat euphoric trance music. The energy shifted with the tone of the music, the group dancing together at one moment, stomping and clapping in rhythm, to then spiral into a solitary and somber introspective mood. Ecstatic dance is an open and welcoming space, and my experience has been of feeling fully respected in the experience.
Emotions were high at this particular session, being the day before the presidential inauguration in the US, and some members of the group were using the space to release fears and uncertainties, and to create hope and inclusion at a time of dangerous division and polarization. we circled at the end to close the space, many shared their experiences: “Today at dance, I felt free to accept whatever will come next.” “Today at dance, I was insecure at first, but then I realized that no one was watching me and I was able to let go.” “Today at dance, I was overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. Thanks for supporting me through it.” After the space resonated with silence to indicate our final end to the session, we dispersed out into the world and our lives, holding the experience we had created together as a guide for staying in the orbit of flow, magic, and resilience.
To find a dance community near you (or to start one), check out www.EcstaticDance.org.
If you are not familiar with trance music, here’s a list of representative songs to inspire your heart and spirit:
Following the Nomad Star 