“Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him.” Psalm 149:3
Some people enjoy a good polka, waltz, or square dance. It gives them an opportunity to express themselves through movement. Just as God provided the opportunity to sing, so he gave us the ability to dance.
Dancing is mentioned about 14 times in the Bible. It was often done to commemorate a special moment. We find dancing first mentioned in Exodus 15:20, where Miriam led the women in a joyful dance of thanks after God rescued the Children of Israel at the Red Sea. “Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.” In 2 Samuel 6:14,15, we see David joyfully dancing as the ark of the covenant was being returned to Jerusalem. “Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.”
Dancing was also used in a sinful way. We read of evil dancing in Exodus 32:19: “When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.” We also witness wicked dancing when the daughter of Herodias danced for King Herod before killing John the Baptist.
Is dancing right or wrong? Notice that with Miriam and David, their dancing was done before the Lord in praise to him. There’s the clue. If your dancing can be done before the Lord, it is no more sinful than eating or singing. In all things give praise to God. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:4, there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
From Precious Words of the Bible by Reynold R. Kremer