There are two basic categories of Ryukyuan dance - the "Ukanshin-udui", the classical dances which were performed at court at banquets held for envoys from the Chinese emperor who came to Okinawa to crown a new king; and the dances that formed part of the popular theater that emerged after the Meiji Restoration.

The classical dance in turn has five subcategories - the old people's dances, young people's dances, women's and men's dances and the "Uchigumi-odori" dances in which men and women and people of diffrent ranks and callings' dance together.