Can autistics learn to dance?

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Any dancers here?
I haven't had much cause to encounter this for about ten years, but recently I was forced into it at a club with some people I was with. And it was horrific - I am an abysmal dancer. I wondered if this was just due to the fact that I never had any reason to learn to dance and thus have no idea what I'm doing, or it was more than that.
I have that sensory gap with not knowing how much pressure to use with my hands especially, but other parts of my body to a less noticeable degree, which makes me clumsy and often dropping things and tripping over. I have also been told I have that odd mixture of slightly spastic movements that some autistics do. Also, I wondered if my inabilities related to the highly social nature of dancing. There is a social communication at work through dance just as there is with any other form of body language. Much of it sexual, from what I observed of others in the club in varying levels of inebriation. I also observed a highly gendered element to club dancing, which is awkward for me.
I used to think that structured dance, where one would only have to learn the steps such as in the older forms of European dancing would be much easier - modern dance in clubs and so on seems to be very improvised and individual. I imagine ballet dancing and other similarly structured forms may be easier for autistic people.
Can anyone dance? Do you notice a difference between the differing forms for autistic people?

I hoop dance. You can be a dancer too though. Anyone can if they practice enough but you will likely have to practice more than a typical person would.

I can only Ceilidh dance. And that's only because we had to do it pretty much every year at school for at least 3 months. I can't do any other type of dancing.

I can dance, not that I'm sure I should dance but I double check on a regular basis that I can.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

I dance like a constipated penguin. Which means i'm probably the worst dancer in the world. How do people even dance? It just does not compute.

I would practice in the mirror but i'm afraid my parents would secretly video tape me, and put it on Youtube and i'd get cussed out by a bunch of internet tough guys. Sure it would be nice to dance but it's not like ima be hitting the club anytime soon.

I've never been to a club, I'm not sure that would be a very good environment for me, lol. But I have done ballet, tap dancing, and different ballroom dances. I like the structured dances so much more than free form (free form I end up doing some sort of mash up between ballet and karate and I never want anyone to witness that...) I may not be the best at it, but I can dance

I like dancing a lot and am pretty good at it. My autistic dad is surprisingly excellent dancer.

Most people I see in clubs are awkward dancers who are like 'wanna dance, not sure how to dance, wanna look good so not gonna really let loose' dancers. Weddings have fewer people like that for whatever reason, least the ones I've been to, but that could just be a personal family thing. Smaller clubs that are on more on the fringe (local bands or not top 40 hits, places where there's no dress code for sure) will have more varied people who are more likely to dance all in more different ways.

I would think that if you're just a clumsy person with poor sense of where you are, that unstructured dancing would actually be easier to do and be good at. But of course that has potential to be more embarrassing.

Structured dancing is better for the social anxiety about not doing it right, because as long as you're at least making the right steps, you're doing exactly what everyone else is doing. BUT it's also much harder, I think, to become good at, if only because there is actually a standard to measure up to.

I've been told I "shake it pretty good for a white boy."

Absolutely!

I've recently taken up classical ballet and fell in love with it. I wasn't able to do it as a kid.

I'm the kind of gal who was always picked last in gym, no hand-eye coordination, etc. but somehow, ballet works. I think any structured technique class would work, as long as the dance style's movements feel good to you. Ballet in particular has a set class structure - you do the same types of exercises in the same order in any class, and there's an expectation that you'll never get sick of moving your foot in the same patterns over and over and over and over again :p (can you see why I'm in love with it?)

Best therapy ever. It happened to be very effective for me in a lot of ways. I hope this helps some of you.

TLDR:

Yes! Find a style that feels good to you. Social dancing isn't my forte either, but technique classes work really well and are very different. You can definitely get a lot out of it if you find the right thing.

I can't dance and doubt I could really learn. I think my general glumsiness would get in the way. I also agree there is a social awareness that I don't have...

I can't dance to save my life but I give it a good try.

One of my favorite things to do with my misplaced talents in this respect is to inconspicuously walk down a busy sidewalk and switch to 'the robot' without provocation or reason.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Yes, and I have higher than average physical coordination ability.
I have also done hooping, gymnastics, and other physical type things.
Physical coordination is just one particular type of focus.
Obviously, our abilities can fall in different areas.

I can dance but... for your own safety don't come close to me when I do. You are sure to get hit by my moving hands or be bumped at when I move because I lack awareness of my surroundings.
I know where furniture and walls are but I cannot follow moves of people.

And also - I need to sing to dance. I cannot "feel" the music if I don't sing or at least hum. Some people find it funny.

There is also no sequence in my dance. I couldn't dance with people as a united team(like the people in musicals) even if my life depended of it. We had something like that in sports class and I was always getting out of rhythm around 3rd move. I couldn't remember what move I am supposed to do next so I was looking at what others are doing. And the moves requiring moving of hand and leg at the same time... God forbid. I could never do it - I was moving my hand first and then leg or the other way around, never together as I was supposed to. Not because I was physically unable to - I just couldn't focus my mind on doing both moves at the same time while following the sequence steps.

I did medals in ballroom dancing before I met my wife. I was never going to turn into another Fred Astaire but it's good exercise when you can't play sports and it's a great way of meeting the opposite sex. The trick is not to think too much about what your arms and legs are doing. Just let the cerebellum do all the work.