Dancing

Dancers may appear, but great care should be used that they are not indecently clad or the dances vulgar in any way. Naturally, there should be no dancers at regular Bahá’í meetings.

In the teaching there is nothing against dancing, but the friends should remember that the standard of Bahá’u’lláh is modesty and chastity. The atmosphere of modern dance halls, where so much smoking and drinking and promiscuity goes on, is very bad, but decent dances are not harmful in themselves. There is certainly no harm in classical dancing or learning dancing in school. There is also no harm in taking part in dramas. Likewise in cinema acting.  The harmful thing, nowadays, is not the art itself the unfortunate corruption which often surrounds these arts. As Bahá’ís we need to avoid none of the arts, but acts and the atmosphere that sometimes go with these professions we should avoid.

We are asked to say that it is not appropriate for dancing to occur in a local or national Bahá’í Center. When a Local Spiritual Assembly acquires a Bahá’í Center, it should regard this meeting place as an embryonic Haziratu'l-Quds and should do everything possible to foster in the community a proper attitude of respect for the Center. Traditional dances associated with the expression of a culture are permissible in Bahá’í Centers. However, it should be borne in mind that such traditional dances generally have an underlying theme or a story being represented. Care must be exercised to ensure that the themes of such dances are in harmony with the high ethical standards of the Cause and are not portrayals that would arouse base instincts and unworthy passions.