At a Japanese dance recital, may one clap briefly in a rest in the music? Are there rules?

The reassuring part first: neither Japanese dance nor kabuki has any written rule about how many times to clap. There is nothing as sharply prohibitive as the between-movements convention in classical music. There is, however, one place best avoided: a rest in the middle of a piece.

In Japanese and kabuki dance, the moment when sound stops is itself composed as ma. The silence is not a pause for rest: within it the dancer may be gathering a movement, or the air may be being drawn taut toward the next note. Applause here severs the breath held between the dancer and the jikata — the nagauta singers and shamisen players. A rest is not a signal that something has ended; it is part of the music.

When, then? Two markers are enough. One: when a number has completely finished. Two: when the dancer withdraws, along the hanamichi or otherwise. Both make it unmistakable that a moment has closed, so you cannot go wrong. Beyond these, applause sometimes rises of itself at a great highlight, and there is no need to hold it back. Kabuki applause is not a rule about counts; it is a form of respect for the stage. Breathing with the people around you turns out to be the surest etiquette there is.