"dancing in the dark" is a r&b song with a length of three minutes and forty-three seconds. the track is an up-tempo "poppy-number" that features "enough backdrop of saccharine synths and snap beats". according to james grebey of "spin" magazine it's also "upbeat and a little funkier — if a tad repetitive." "rolling stone"'s jon blistein linked "dancing in the darks chorus to the one of whitney houston's 1987 single "i wanna dance with somebody (who loves me)". he also wrote that the song has a "wubby bass groove" that could feature american actress courtney cox dancing to it in its potential music video, a reference to her appearance in the video for bruce springsteen's 1984 single with the same name.