Ceremonial dancing: it curtails stifling independence (11)
I believe the answer is:
ritualistic
'ceremonial' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'dancing it curtails stifling independence' is the wordplay.
'dancing' indicates an anagram.
'stifling' is an insertion indicator.
'independence' becomes 'i'.
'it'+'curtails'='itcurtails'
'itcurtails' is an anagram of 'ritualstic'.
'ritualstic' placed around 'i' is 'RITUALISTIC'.
(Other definitions for ritualistic that I've seen before include "Invariably performed in the same way" , "Involving religious ceremony" , "Invariably done in the same way" , "Relating to prescribed ceremony" , "Like religious services" .)