Dance and Spirituality
Dance has been present in mythologies, spirituality and religions globally. Dance has also been an important part of ceremonies and ritual in many religions throughout history and prehistory.
Archeology delivers traces of dance from prehistoric times such as the 5,000-year-old Bhimbetka rock shelters paintings in India and Egyptian tomb paintings depicting dancing figures from around 3300 BC.
An early use of dance may have been as a precursor to ecstatic trance states in healing rituals. Dance is still used for this purpose by many cultures from the Brazilian rainforest to the Kalahari Desert.
An early manuscript describing dance is the Natya Shastra on which is based the modern interpretation of classical Indian dance.
Dance can help break down the boundaries between body, heart and mind, between cultures, age groups, genders and between countries.
