Symbolism of ritual dance in ethnic culture

The paper deals with the problem of ethnic self-consciousness expression. The urgency of the problem relates to the special comprehension of non-verbal forms of ethnic culture in the process of dialogue. The study focuses on the forms of cultural expression; the dance as the archetype of behavior is the research subject. Non-verbal forms of expression contribute to the transmission of feelings and emotions. Dance appeared in ancient times as a way to connect profane with sacred when a human unconsciously imitated the movements of totem animals. The dance in ethnic culture reflects the dialogue with nature or with “infinitely different”, i.e. the God. Strict geometric shapes of Russian round dance or imitation of the eagle in Caucasian lezginka are the reflection of anima mundi (by C. Jung). Archetypes of behavior of an individual in ethnic culture originate at the deep levels of the unconscious mind in primitive societies but are expressed in the contemporary times in the features of ethnic self-consciousness functioning.