For many of us, the idea of dancing in public is terrifying. The only time we will bust out some real moves is at home in our living rooms, when no-one can see.

But now there is a space where you can do just that, but in the company of others, because the lights are switched off.

It is called No Lights No Lycra and it is the brainchild of Melbourne dancers Alice Glenn and Heidi Barrett, who believe dancing should be about joy rather than worrying about how you look or how good you are.

"It's a place where you can come and dance in the dark for the pure joy of dancing," Ms Glenn told 7.30.

"No one can see you; no one's judging you. We play an hour of absolute hard pumping hits and old classics and everyone goes completely crazy."

What began five years ago as an experiment with friends is now a global dance community allowing wallflowers everywhere to completely let go.

At 7:00 each Wednesday evening at a church in East Brunswick, Melbourne, up to 100 punters turn up for a one-hour dancing free-for-all.

It is a bit like a nightclub, except there is no booze, no drugs and, importantly, no lights.

Similar weeknight events take place all over the country, and the world.

From a living room to cities around the world

No Lights No Lycra founders Alice Glenn (L) and Heidi Barrett, who started the event in their living room. ( ABC News: Monique Schafter )

Ms Barrett and Ms Glenn studied dance together and were tired of having to look a certain way while were dancing.

"We were living together at the time and dancing around in our living room in the dark and were just like 'we gotta do this with some friends'," Ms Barrett said.

"And we invited about five people along. It just sort of happened from there really. The next week those five people told five of their friends and it just grew organically."

They now have 42 communities around the world, Ms Glenn said.

Now people from New York to Shanghai are dancing like no-one is watching - simply because it is too dark to see.

'Elation, happiness, freedom' for an image-based society

Ms Glenn believes No Lights No Lycra fills a need in people's lives.

"I think we live in a really image-based society, a very stressful busy world full of technology and overstimulation and I think turning out the lights and kind of blissing out for an hour is really needed in our world," she said.

Members of East Brunswick's No Lights No Lycra community could not agree more.

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"It's pure exhilaration and just like elation and happiness and freedom," said one female dancer.

"I love that it's sort of free of rules," one man added.

For another regular, dancing is the only form of exercise she enjoys.

"It's really nice to be able to do it mid-week and not just save it up for the weekend," she said.

According to Ms Glenn, at the heart of No Lights No Lycra is the belief that everybody can dance.

"A lot of people dance when they're younger and as they get older maybe someone laughs at them, or they develop a figure that's not the traditional dance figure and they stop dancing," she said.

"But through coming to No Lights No Lycra and dancing in the dark you can find a dance that is comfortable for you and it feels good and that's really what it should be about."

Ms Barrett said: "People come from all backgrounds and walks of life and we have five-year-olds coming and 70-year-olds coming."

No Lights No Lycra has grown so quickly because practically anyone can start up a community.

"People get in touch with us and fill out an expression of interest form and then we send out a licence agreement that protects the integrity of the idea and the concept and there's a very small $50 fee to start one up," Ms Barrett said.

Having created a global dance phenomenon, Ms Glenn and Ms Barrett are now keen to take No Lights No Lycra into schools.

"You know, you're just about to hit puberty and you feel awkward and you're so self conscious about your body, that's the perfect time to give kids an opportunity to find the way they move and do it without being judged or ridiculed by their friends," Ms Glenn said.

'It felt like being a child again'

No Lights No Lycra is underscored by the belief that everyone can dance. ( ABC TV )

Despite all those limbs flailing around in the dark, Ms Glenn says no-one has been injured.

"It's dark enough so you can really lose yourself and go inside but light enough so your eyes adjust and you're not going to whack someone in the face," she said.

For one No Lights No Lycra first timer, the night lived up to the hype.

"It felt like being a child again. Just letting go and dancing, just doing what you feel," she said.

When another dancer was asked if she would bust out those same moves at a regular nightclub, she did not think so.

"You're far more dorky and experimental in there than you would be at a club," she said.