Tandava is a name for one of the two main types of Indian
dance.
The tandava style is athletic and dramatic, conveying anger
and force, whereas the lasya style is delicate and lyrical, conveying a love
mood.
The tandava dance of the deity Shiva gave rise to the tandava
style.
This is the dance in which Shiva destroys the world when the
time has come, according to legend.
Not all legendary overtones of the dance are violent; this
athletic dance is also claimed to be the one in which Shiva defeated the
goddess Kali in a dancing competition when her feminine modesty prohibited her
from mimicking his technique.
