Five centuries of dance history, made findable — from Renaissance courts to the competition floors, studios and social dances of today.
The Answer to the Great Question
“…so, what is the meaning of L, the universe, and everything?”
Library of Dance
7,100+ primary sources spanning more than five centuries — the most comprehensive dance reference ever assembled.
Lineage of Dance
The family tree of dance. Trace how styles emerged, merged, and evolved across centuries.
Listening of Dance
37,000+ songs tagged by dance style. Beat visualizers, tempo guides, and a song analyzer.
Landscape of Dance
8,700+ studios across 1,400+ cities worldwide. Find your floor, wherever you are.
Leagues of Dance
A map of the organizations, federations, and circuits that shape the dance world.
Lines of Dance
Floor traffic, floorcraft, and the visual lines dancers create with their bodies.
Life of Dance
The philosophy of a dance life — how movement shapes identity, community, and meaning.
Logistics of Dance
The practical systems behind better dancing: practice, fitness, nutrition, scheduling, and recovery.
Love of Dance
The emotional connections that dance creates — partnerships, community, and shared passion.
Laboratory of Dance
The periodic table of dance. Explore elements, molecules, and fusion combinations.
Laughter of Dance
Dance humor — jokes, puns, and lighthearted moments that every dancer knows.
Legends of Dance
The dancers, choreographers, and visionaries who shaped the art form.
Legions of Dance
World of Floorcraft — gamified progression, warrior archetypes, and your dance quest.
Language of Dance
A living glossary of dance terminology — from Alemana to Zildjian, with flashcards and cross-references.
“The meaning of L is yours to find.”
What LODance holds
The Reference, by the Numbers
Counts as of 2026-10-18, read from the live database; approximate figures are rounded down. Each number links to the page where you can count for yourself.
The Mission
Dance history exists in scattered sources: archives, out-of-print manuals, fragmented syllabi, and the memory of teachers who learned from teachers who learned from teachers. Dance communities are just as scattered — separated by organization, geography and tradition, so a dancer in one studio has no window into another’s world.
LODance makes those connections visible: one cross-referenced reference where a dancer — exploring Renaissance history, preparing for a competition, looking for a studio in a new city, or logging the ten-thousandth hour — can find what they need, see where it came from, and see how it connects to the wider world of dance.
Every entry cites its source. Where we do not know something, the page says so rather than filling the gap.
The Story
Born from a Dancer’s Desire for Connection
LODance began in the fall of 2022 with a simple decision: walk into a dance studio and start learning. One studio became three, with multiple teachers and multiple frameworks — International Standard, American Smooth, social dances. The same figure had different names depending on who taught it. The same step appeared across centuries with no bridge connecting the two. And the dancers themselves — teachers, partners, competitors — were scattered across organizations with no way to see each other’s work.
The puzzle that emerged: five centuries of dance history and hundreds of primary sources, fragmented, un-indexed, invisible to each other. LODance is the attempt to index it.
A Vision of Joy
It is said that “men are, that they might have joy.” Dance is joy expressed. LODance weaves the scattered pieces — the knowledge, the lineage, the community — back together so that dancers can discover the full dimensions of their art, connect across invisible boundaries, and understand where their practice comes from and where it might go.
Who Uses It
Teachers, to see the history behind their technique and how their students might grow. Competitors, to study how figures differ across syllabi and coaches. Dancers planning a journey, to see every path open to them. Historians, to trace patterns across centuries. Studio owners, to be found by the dancers looking for them.
Why LODance?
Tools built for dancers, on top of the reference.
🎵 Song Analyzer
What dance fits this song? Analyze a track's tempo and time signature and see which dances match.
Try the Song Analyzer →🔗 Rosetta Stone
The same figure has different names across DVIDA, ISTD and WDSF. Lingo translates between them, so your training connects across organizations.
Try Lingo →📚 357 Articles
Deep dives into history, technique, culture and the stories behind dance styles — free to read.
Read the Blog →💰 Free to Use
The encyclopedia, glossary, history and tools are free for everyone. A free account adds skill tracking, lesson logging and a personal dashboard.
Create Your Free Account →🌍 381 Dance Styles Across 48 Genres
Ballroom, Latin, swing, club Latin, Argentine tango, historic dances, street and club styles, and traditions from around the world — each with its own page and sources.
Browse Every Style →Get in Touch
LODance is built and run by LODance LLC. Write to hello@lodance.app — tell us which page and what is wrong.
Corrections & questions
Spotted an error, a missing source, or a page that should say more? Tell us which page and what is wrong.
hello@lodance.appStudios & teachers
To claim, correct or add a studio listing, start from the listing itself — every studio page has a claim button — or write to us.
For studios →Rights & takedowns
Copyright notices and removal requests have their own route, with the details a notice needs.
Copyright policy →Words to Dance By
“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.”