Spirits Revisited

Spirit possession rituals have an unsettling link to our cultural past

-  Ferina Natasya Abdul Aziz

Trance dancing: questions still abound with regard to this mysticism in Asian cultures. A common belief of worshipping a supreme being through dance cuts across the region.

I recalled a dancer becoming deeply possessed. His display of ecstatic frenzy with big jerking movements and his vacant eyes that seemed in oblivion was quite a hair-raising experience. And to put some order to it, I wonder what makes a dancer go into a mystic state or surrender to an enactment of a role in an event that will expose him to danger.

While some folk trance performance in the present day serves to entertain, this mysticism in such cultures is still much in question as to its meaning. Despite the fact that much of the trance state dance carries strong themes of cultural identity, the common thread that runs through many rituals is the belief of the worshipping of a supreme being in the dance.

For example, a trance of Sufimystics may let dancers feel they are more unified with the teachings of Islam and some meditation trance of Vajrayana Buddhists could make them feel that they themselves have become the deity. At times, the rituals may be more significant to the audience than the individual, because they learn new lessons by watching, which can even reinforce their religious belief.

Unique to each trance dance form, there is a certain similarity in the combinations of instruments and manner of the dramatic content. The moment of buildup and subsequent sustenance of a hypnotic state at times involves sacred items and characters connected to both entranced dancer and performance.