Om, Salutations to Shiva-Shakti !

Shiva, the Cosmic Dancer symbolises the mystical nature of the Universal order. His Dance, emitting the radiations of Beauty, Power and Bliss in a harmonious blend is a symbolism which captures the essence of the Hindu/Indian philosophical thought in a nutshell. Albert Einstein rightly said,

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."

Shiva dances in ecstacy all the time to the rhythm of nature, to the musical vibrations of our inner hearts, trampling down the dwarf of ignorance, meanness and narrow-mindedness with his mighty feet ! With the mystical fire-ring of cosmic energy surrounding him, with the pure-white moon of consciousness (chid) adoring his crown, the damaruka emanating the eternal truths (sat), His face glowing with the radiance of Divine Bliss (aananda), He dances.

He is just the dancer staging the act, sprung from the will of Shakti, His soul, half, consort and life. The beauty of His dance is the result of the grace of Her glance, the resultant energy being nothing but the synergy of Shiva and Shakti. As W B Yeats says,

O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

Shiva is the Dancer, Shakti being the Dance.

His lifted leg motivates the human mind to look, think and feel high as the sky, while His hand lowered in grace, actually that of Shakti, teaches Mercy, love and compassion for every Being. The snakes decorating His body, apperaing to be terrifying but truly at peace with themselves, reaffirm the Eternal force of equilbrium and balance.

   The thirty-six elements dance. 
   Sadashiva dances, Consciousness dances. 
   Shiva-Shakti dances. 
   The animate and the inanimate dance. 
   All these and the Vedas dance 
   when the Supreme dances His dance of bliss. 

   The seven worlds as His golden abode,
   the five chakras as His pedestal, 
   the central kundalini shakti as His divine stage,
   thus in rapture He dances, 
   He who is Transcendent Light.
 
   He dances with the celestials. 
   He dances in the golden hall. 
   He dances with the three Gods. 
   He dances with the assembly of silent sages. 
   He dances in song. 
   He dances in ultimate energy.
   He dances in our souls - Shiva, the Lord of Dance !

   - Thirumular, in "Thiru mandhiram"