Spiritual dance is often used to raise energy, heal the sick and connect with Deity.
The integration of movement and dance into spiritual practices and religious rituals is not a new concept. Since before recorded time, man has been using gestures and movements and dance, both choreographed and improvised, to raise energy, heal the sick, connect with Deity, and foster a sense of community connection. One useful purpose for sacred movement is as a tool to facilitate and enhance the achievement of the altered state known as “trance.” Once again, modern man is not inventing this concept, but rather reviving it, for the “trance dance,” like all other sacred movement, has its roots in antiquity. Many trance dance traditional rituals have survived intact and are still being used in religious ceremonies and healings to this day.
Sufis perform a trance dance called “whirling” (mostly associated with Dervishes of Turkey) as a part of a formal religious ceremony known as the Sema, which is performed in order to reach religious ecstasy and a connection to Deity.
The Anastenaria is a traditional celebration found in Northern Greece and Southern Bulgaria, in honor of Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. At the end of the celebration, participants carry icons of the Saints and dance around a large fire for hours, until they enter a trance and are called by the Saints to walk barefoot over the glowing-red coals, unharmed by the fire.
Zar Cults of the Middle East are groups with specific members who perform their healing trance dance in order to contact and communicate with the spirit(s) causing particular illnesses or afflictions, not to exorcise them, but rather to work out a mutually agreeable symbiotic accommodation or “living arrangement.”
The Guedra, part of the culture of Morocco’s Tuareg Berbers, or Blue People (the dye from their deep blue robes impregnates their skin), is a moving meditation performed as a ritual of blessing and celebration of life, usually performed by one or a few dancers, supported by a drummer, hand clappers, and chanters; all come together to build powerful energy and bring blessings, spiritual ecstasy and connection to Deity.
The pizzica is a folk dance from Italy that comes in three highly symbolic variations.
The pizzica is a folk dance from Italy that comes in three highly symbolic variations. In the first, the pizzica de core, a man and woman circle each other suggestively but are never allowed to actually touch. The second, the danza della scherma, is a mock sword battle performed by two men. The third dance, the pizzica tarantata, is a strange ritual with an almost primitive history, dating from a time in which women suffering from a variety of mental or emotional disorders of the sort that used to be labeled “hysteria” were believed to have been bitten by a poisonous spider. The Tarantella Dance music is probably the most recognized song of all the Italian folklore music.
Liturgical dance is a modern form of religious trance dance that is made a part of worship services, usually as an expression of prayer or worship through movement of the body. Liturgical dancing can be spontaneous or can be choreographed in advance in order to fit into the lyrics of a particular hymn or song, or the focus of a religious service. It is relatively new in the West, but its roots go back to accounts of religious dance in the Bible’s Old Testament.
But not all trance dancing is related to healing or banishing or exorcism. Anyone who has spent some time on a dance floor at a modern night club can attest to the power of dancing and the “group consciousness” that can be created through rhythm, music, lights and movement. Electronic trance dance and all of its alternate forms (such as Rave, Euro, Techno and House) are characterized by music with rhythms that fall within the 130 to 155 beats per minute range, a tempo that, combined with a dancing style of repetitive movement, is perfect for inducing a trance or altered state of consciousness.
Modern trance dancing uses rhythmic sounds, sights such as pulsing lights, and repetitive movements as activators to influence the brain and bring brain wave vibrations into alignment with the rhythm, and thus to the trance level. This use of outside influences such as rhythm and repetitive body movements to help achieve a trance state is known as “entrainment.” The more senses that are involved in this process, the easier it is to attain and maintain a trance state. Transformative breathing, pulsing lights or flames, and incense, when combined with music and rhythms and repetitive body movements, can allow the dancer to slip into a powerful trance.
Want to give it a try?
The wonderful thing about trance dancing is that anyone can do it. You don’t need to be a certain age, you don’t need any dance training or ability, and you can even do it from a chair if you are unable to stand. What you look like when you dance is not even an issue; the most important part is what you feel while you are dancing. Actually, too much worry about your outer form will distract you from the trance.
Begin swaying back and forth with the rhythm of the music.
Trance dance is essentially a meditation, with movement as the tool used to bring your awareness to a place where meditation, trance and communion with Deity can happen. By allowing your body to freely express the rhythms and movements created by the catalyst of sound, you are brought to a meditative state and enter into a deeper mythic reality.
Repetitive movements can act as a focus for your mind similar to that of a mantra or chant; when repeated long enough the movement will fade from your awareness and shift your attention from your physical surroundings to a state of dreaming. While any repeated motion can be used to attain and maintain a trance; the ideal movement would be one that is strenuous enough to get the endorphin effect of exercise, but simple enough to be easily repeated without the worry of getting it wrong.
To set up a trance dance session, you will need to find a block of time when you won’t be disturbed, at least 45 minutes. You will need to arrange your furniture so you won’t injure yourself, and you will need some music, any kind of music as long as it truly inspires you. You might want to also dim the lights or burn some pleasing incense, but be careful of any open flames.
Begin by following the rhythm with your breathing; then consciously relax and invite the music into your body. Begin swaying back and forth with the rhythm. As you put your body into motion, be aware of what feels good in a sensual or physical way; don’t worry about what you look like, for no one is watching. Allow your mind’s chattering and preoccupation with your physical world to fade, along with awareness of conscious movement.
Your aim is to reach a purity of experience that is just the rhythm and the motion and you and the sound; this is the moment of your entry into a trance state. Try not to stop dancing; continue moving without conscious choice until you feel the trance is completed. Slowly begin to decrease your movements and lessen their intensity until you are once again back to swaying to the music. Then bring even that to an end and stand still; experience the absence of motion with as much sensual awareness as you experienced motion.
Through trance dance our physical bodies and our physical world “disappear,” and we become more like spirit, and less attached to life’s ordinary difficulties, making it possible at these moments to let these problems go, and sometimes to become aware of viable solutions to these problems. Trance dancing is also a wonderful way to cleanse the cobwebs from your mind and rejuvenate your body.
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