Capoeira is a stylized martial art dance from Brazil, characterized by acrobatic fighting manoeuvres and athletic dance steps. It is designated as a national sport in Brazil, where it is taught in schools and performed as a contest between combatants. Once only performed by men, now women also dance capoeira. Capoeira has exerted considerable influence on some modern dance choreographers.

Chinese dance can be divided into two major styles: minjian wudao (folk dance) and gudian wudao (classical dance). In folk dances, the inclusion of theatrical elements such as mime and drama often depict a short plot. Today's classical dance is an attempt to reconstruct the dance of the past based on the present day's understanding and knowledge of that vocabulary.

A third style of Chinese dance is minzu wuju (national dance drama), which usually features new choreography combining both Chinese and western dance vocabularies, and may reflect either historical or contemporary events.

Contact improvisation involves improvised movement based on the relationship between two moving bodies and the effects of gravity, momentum, friction and inertia. Steve Paxton is the originator of this system, which has had a significant influence on many choreographers.

Contemporary dance means dance that developed from the roots of modern dance, but that is no longer aligned with the modernist art movement of the 1930s.