The Modern Dance is the debut album by the American rock band Pere Ubu.

[1] A 5.1 surround sound version was released as the DVD-Audio side of a DualDisc in 2005.

Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1978, Robert Christgau wrote that "even though there's too much Radio Ethiopia and not enough 'Redondo Beach,'" he would be "listening through the failed stuff—the highs are worth it.

"[18] In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), he reaffirmed that "the highs are worth it, and the failed stuff ain't bad" in his revised review.

[8] Ken Tucker, writing in Rolling Stone, called it vivid and exhilarating, even if "harsh and willfully ugly".