Modern dance was presented in Slovenia for the first time at the end of the 19th century when Bettina Ruffini performed a visiting production in Ljubljana. Later there were more performances as dancers Ritta Sachetti, Klavdija Margit, Valerija Kratina visited Slovenia. However it was only in 1922, when Lidija Wisiakova performed under the direction of choreographer Václav Viček, that Slovene modern dance was born. In 1929 Meta Vidmar, a student of Mary Wigman, opened a school for modern dance in Slovenia. Other choreographers and dancers before World War II included Pia and Pino Mlakar, Katja Delak (who also established her own school), Marija Gradnik and Marta Paulin, who trained two influential Slovene dancers, Lojzka Žerdin and Živa Kraigher.

The development of Slovene contemporary dance is linked to international contemporary dance movements, from the modernist dance of Pia and Pino Mlakar in the late 1920s to Ksenija Hribar’s Ljubljana Dance Theatre (PTL), and correlates with an upsurge of non-verbal theatre concepts that had been rapidly developing in Slovenia. The strength of the contemporary dance movement in the 1980s was such that some classical ballet dancers, after having participated in several independent dance projects, decided to become choreographer/directors and independent producers. In the Spring of 2003 the first Slovene dance festival, Gibanica (Moving Cake) Festival of Slovene Dance, showed a great diversity of contemporary dance to Slovene and foreign producers. Some other festivals were subsequently initiated around Slovenia, including the NagiB Experimental Movement Festival and Performa in Maribor, Front@ Contemporary Dance Festival, Murska Sobota and Rdeči revirji! - Red Beats! Festival in Hrastnik.

Over the last decade 15 independent organisations have been established by Slovene dancer/choreographers, including Betontanc by Matjaž Pogrejc, Fičo Ballet by Goran Bogdanovski, Vitkar Institute by Branko Potočan and Flota Institute by Matjaž Farič. However, Slovenia's dance groups currently lack suitable rehearsal space - the only venue dedicated to contemporary dance in Ljubljana is the premises of the Ljubljana Dance Theatre (PTL), a public production centre for many young choreographers and dancers.

During its 10-year existence the internationally-acclaimed En-Knap Dance Group, established by Iztok Kovač, has engaged around 70 dancers and musicians from several countries in its international co-productions. It has also produced several dance films, directed by Sašo Podgoršek. Recently Kovač established the new international professional dance group called EKG, while Maja Delak established her own Emanat, Dance Production and Education. The boundaries of dance and visual arts are most frequently probed by the DUM Association of Artists (Mateja Bučar and Vadim Fiškin).