Dancing is firmly embedded in many human cultures. While on the later stages it mainly serves aesthetic purposes, sociologists and anthropologists generally agree that it is almost always rooted in ritual dancing. On the outside, the ritual dance has all the same elements the other types do: the costumes, the music, the patterns are generally recognizable. However, all of the elements of ritual dance can usually be traced to their point of origin. In other words, each part serves a certain purpose and either conveys a message or is used to execute a particular function and achieve a particular result.
The significance of ritual dance elements can be illustrated by the Tibetan Cham dance. This dance has retained its ritualistic meaning in modern times and has been used by the monks for shamanic purposes throughout the twentieth century (Pearlman 102). Buddhism actually categorizes dance as a minor science, called rigpa (Pearlman 100). The dancing itself is almost codified, with the set of moves that correspond to the karmas of enrichment, destruction, pacification, and magnetization.
The moves are used to prolong life, eliminate pride, ignorance, attachment, and invoke spaciousness, equanimity, and mirrorlike wisdom (Pearlman 107). The props used in the Cham dances also convey a specific meaning. For example, the bell and Dorje, held by dancers during certain performances, symbolize the Upaya (method) and Prajna (wisdom). Throughout the dance, the performing monks are seen bringing these two props close to each other, which signifies the unification of Upaya and Prajna as a result of spiritual practices.
Some of the props in dancing also share the utilitarian purposes. One of the most widely recognized is the rain stick used in the Mayan ritual dances. While it can be seen as a musical instrument, and was often utilized as such, its main purpose was to ask for the favorable weather conditions. The Mayan dances had another characteristic feature: the poses exhibited by the dancers. While almost every move in the ritual dance is usually charged with meaning, the pose, characterized by the defined positions of arms, legs, and feet, served instead as a “phrase” (Looper 111) conveying a clustered message in a more condensed way than possible by the set of moves or elaborate costumes.
Speaking of costumes, these too have a long history of prominent presence in the ritual dancing phenomenon. Some archeological finds of a Neolithic period contain props which are argued by some social archeologists to have been used for the dancing rituals. These most often include the wings of birds, most notably cranes, which aligns with the rather ancient and ethnographically widespread crane dance. Other costume elements include wild animal skulls and furs, which, in one case, were proven to be carried from distant locations, like the foxes from Southern California found on the Channel Islands and used for the fox dances (Russell 141). This further stresses the significance of these costumes to the performers.
In several cultures, the costumes went far beyond the set of simple animal parts. Almost all traditional ritual dances of the Native Americans feature the elaborate costume sets, to the point where the dancing resembles the theatrical performance. These dances also exhibit complex and rich plots, and besides the ritual meaning, often serve the narration purposes. Some of the costume elements, like masks in the Apache dances, are sacred to the extent where they may be used just once in a lifetime and are deemed significant after attaining the sacred characteristics by participating in the ritual (Copeland 32).
In all, any given element of the ritual dance is rarely random, with most of the costume elements, moves, music, and characters exhibiting symbolic or spiritual meaning and are important parts of the whole.
Works Cited
Copeland, Peter. North American Indian Dances and Rituals, New York: Dover Publications, 1997. Print.
Looper, Matthew. To Be Like Gods: Dance in Ancient Maya Civilization, Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 2010. Print.
Pearlman, Ellen. Tibetan Sacred Dance: A Journey Into the Religious and Folk Traditions, Rochester, Vermont: Bear & Co, 2002. Print.
Russell, Nerissa. Social Zooarchaeology: Humans and Animals in Prehistory, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.