| a ritual dance intended to establish communion with the dead, esp. such a dance as performed by various messianic western American Indian cults in the late 19th century. |
| ghost dance n. Either of two group dances associated with a messianic religious movement among Native American peoples of the Southwest and Great Plains in the late 19th century. Ghost dance prophets foretold the imminent disappearance of whites, the restoration of traditional lands and ways of life, and the resurrection of dead ancestors. |