Trance Folk Dances
Trance or spirit dances are different from ritual dances, although superficially it may appear same. In a trance
dance the dancer becomes a temporary embodiment of either a spirit or a deity; whereas in a ritual dance the
dancers are either worshippers or ritual objects. In a ritual, many kinds of inanimate materials like incense, joss
stick, kusha grass, burning lamps, etc and inanimate objects like mask, idol, icon, etc are used. In a ritual dance
the dancers are animate ritual objects. In a trance dance rituals are performed either by a priest or the dancer
himself with the sole aim of invoking a spirit or a deity to possess the body of the dancer. Once possessed the
dancer is transformed into the invoked spirit or deity. He also behaves and talks that way. One should not doubt
that the dancer gets possessed or think that he just puts on an act. It is a kind of self-hypnosis under which the
dancer goes into a deep trance. It is deeper than the Satvik-abhinaya which is nothing but an actor's total empathy
with the portrayed character. For instance, in an intensely tragic dramatic situation actual tears come out from
the eyes of an actor. This is called in Natyashastra as satvik-abhinaya. It can only happen when the actor totally
identifies with the character he portrays. The difference between satvik-abhinaya and trance is that in the former
case it is the inherent histrionic talent of the actor that brings about the total empathy, whereas in the case of
trance it is most probably self-hypnosis. Again, the rural people, who have not been yet contaminated by the
industrial civilization, look upon the everyday reality and mythological reality as the two sides of the same coin.
For them such mythological characters as Rama and Krishna are like next door neighbor's. If history tells of things
past, mythology tells simultaneously of past, present, and future. The psyche of the rural people is steeped with
mythological reality. That is why neither the trance dancer nor the onlookers doubt the reality of a spirit or a
deity taking possession of the trance dancer's body.
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