Dance

Dance. Like all pervasive religious behaviours, the dominant importance of dance in religious and especially ritual behaviours can be traced back to its genetic role (see Introduction and BIOGENETIC STRUCTURALISM). Dance, by its rhythm and exclusion of other external stimuli, induces brain behaviours (often leading to trance or ecstasy) which underlie claims to shamanistic or divine possession. At the least, they become evidence of connection with the divine (e.g. dervishes/derwīsh, ḥasidic dancers), or of a manifestation of the divine (e.g. in Hindu temple dance). Among Hindus, dance reiterates the cosmic process, epitomized in Śiva, who, as Naṭarāja, the Lord of the Dance, is the patron of dancers, creating, sustaining, destroying, and bringing to birth. Much Hindu dance draws on the Nāṭya Śastra (c.1st cent. BCE or CE), which lays out the rules for the dramatic manifestation of the divine. Kathak (teller of tales) is an example in N. India, which syncretizes elements from Islam. Kathākali (story-tale) occurs at Kerala in S. India, drawing on the epics. The vernacular nāc (for nāṭya) gave rise to the Eng. ‘nautch dancers’. Kṛṣṇa's dance among the gōpīs is reflected in dance in honour of Kṛṣṇa (e.g. Caitanya), visible in the streets today in the Hare Krishna (International Society …) movement. See also GHOST DANCE; DENGAKU.