The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (601 page)

 
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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/
derw
sh
,
asidic
dancers), or of a manifestation of the divine (e.g. in Hindu temple dance). Among Hindus, dance reiterates the cosmic process, epitomized in
iva, who, as Na
ar
ja, the Lord of the Dance, is the patron of dancers, creating, sustaining, destroying, and bringing to birth. Much Hindu dance draws on the
N
ya
astra
(
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.
Kath
kali
(story-tale) occurs at Kerala in S. India, drawing on the epics. The vernacular
n
c
(for n
ya) gave rise to the Eng. ‘nautch dancers’.
K
a's