Ecstatic dance
Ecstatic dance is a form of dance in which the dancers, sometimes without the need to follow specific steps, release themselves to the rhythm and move freely as the music takes them, leading to trance and a feeling of ecstasy. The effects of ecstatic dance begin with ecstasy itself, which may be experienced in differing degrees. Dancers are described as feeling connected to others, and to their own emotions. The dance serves as a form of meditation, helping people to cope with stress and to attain serenity.
In the ancient and widespread practice of shamanism, ecstatic dance and rhythmic drumming are used to alter consciousness in spiritual practices. Ecstatic sacred dances are known also from religious traditions around the world. Modern ecstatic dance was revived by Gabrielle Roth in the 1970s and formalised in her 5Rhythms practice; it is now found in variants across the western world. Attitudes to ecstatic dance have varied widely. In the 1920s,
Ecstasy
Ecstasy (from Ancient Greek ἔκστασις ékstasis, in turn from ἐκ (ek, out) and ἵστημι (hístēmi, I stand) is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of his or her awareness. In classical Greek literature it meant the removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function."[1]
The primary effect of ecstatic dance is ecstasy itself.
The described effects of ecstatic dance include a feeling of connection with others,[5] indeed of "universal relatedness",[2] and with the dancer's own emotions; serving as a meditation, providing a way of coping with stress and restoring serenity; and serving as a spiritual practice.[5] Roth identified specific emotions associated with the five different rhythms of ecstatic dance that she used, namely that the flowing rhythm connected the dancer with their own fear; the staccato rhythm with anger; chaos with sadness; lyrical with joy; and stillness with compassion.[6]
Ancient
Little is known directly of ecstatic dance in ancient times. However,
The myths gave rise to ancient Greek practices in honour of Dionysus. The oreibasia ("mountain dancing") was a midwinter Dionysian rite practised by women, and said to be originally an "unrestrained, ecstatic dance where the 'human' personality was temporarily replaced by another",[10] though it eventually became structured into a definite ritual.[10]
The theologian
Oesterley notes also that Heliodorus of Emesa recorded in his 3rd century Aethiopica 4:16ff that sailors from Tyre performed a dance worshipping their god Herakles, to the "quick music" of flutes, hopping, jumping up, "limping along on the ground, and then turning with the whole body, spinning around like men possessed."[8]
Traditions
A variety of religions and other traditions, founded at different times but still practised around the world today, make use of ecstatic dance.
Tradition | Countries | Description | Start |
---|---|---|---|
Rudra-Shiva | India | In | Ancient |
Shamanism | Worldwide | Uses drumming, rhythm, and ecstatic dance to alter consciousness in spiritual practices,[12][5][13] hence magical rather than purely ecstatic;[14] in Europe, this ended in the Middle Ages, prohibited by the Christian church, while it continued among native peoples in America, Siberia and elsewhere[2] | Ancient |
Anastenaria | N. Greece, S. Bulgaria |
In the annual celebrations for | Ancient or medieval |
Sufi whirling | Turkey | In the tradition of the Shi'a clerics.[20] |
12th century |
Santeria |
Cuba | A syncretised form of African dance of Yoruba religion, Fon of Benin, and Congolese traditions,[11] merged with Christianity and indigenous American religions[2] | 16th century |
Candomblé | Brazil | Early 19th century | |
Pentecostalists |
America | "Charismatic" Christian sects using ecstatic ritual dance[2] | 18th century |
Balinese ritual dance | Bali, Indonesia | The anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead filmed Trance and Dance in Bali in the late 1930s, recording the use of trance in Balinese ritual dance, but also influencing what they observed, for example introducing the use of women dancers in the kris-dance in 1937. The dance climaxes with the women dancing ecstatically, stabbing themselves with their razor-sharp kris daggers, and coming to no harm.[22][23][24] | 1930s |
Modern witchcraft | Western world | Modern witchcraft traditions such as the Reclaiming Tradition and the Feri Tradition define themselves as "ecstatic traditions", and focus on reaching ecstatic states in their rituals, which incorporate dance with other techniques.[25][26] | 1960s |
Caribbean Shaktism | Indo-Caribbeans | Madrasi | 1970s |
-
Shamanism, America
-
Anastenaria, Bulgaria
-
Sufis, Turkey
-
Santeria, Cuba
-
Shakers, America
-
Candomblé, Brazil
-
Kris dance, Bali
Modern
Early in the 20th century, the Austrian dancer
Modern ecstatic dance is a style of dance improvisation with little or no formal structure or steps to follow or any particular way to dance.[5] Modern ecstatic dance has developed alongside Western interest in tantra; the two are sometimes combined, and ecstatic dance often plays a part in tantra workshops.[31][32]
The dancer and musician Gabrielle Roth brought the term "Ecstatic Dance" back into current usage in the 1970s at the Esalen Institute with her dance format called 5Rhythms. This consists of five sections, each accompanied by trance music[33][34] with a different rhythm, together constituting a "Wave". The five rhythms (in order) are Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness.[35] The form strongly expects dancers to shape a distinct movement style consistent with each of the five rhythms, which in practice is unlike other contemporary ecstatic dance as these rhythms often look similar between dancers, but has few other rules. The dance music set is carefully arranged,[34] as documented in Roth's 1989 book Maps to Ecstasy[35] and a set of three DVDs.[36][37]
My eyes scan the dancing bodies but keep returning to a young man. He's been gliding along the surface doing his standard repertoire of flowing moves, when suddenly something shifts inside of him. He transcends his boredom and enters the body of a panther on
Rollerblades. Moves spin out from his center in endless waves, some breathtaking to watch. He disappears in the dance until all that's left of him is a mop of bleached-white hair... He dissolves in a swirl of arms, in the sweep of a leg, in the curve of his neck. ... he surrenders his bones to the waves and dances in the ocean of his being.[37]
Many different formats have developed since the 1970s, often spun off from Roth's 5Rhythms.[38][39] After being taught by Roth in 1989, Susannah and Ya'Acov Darling-Khan founded the Moving Centre School in Britain in 1989, teaching the 5 rhythms across Europe. In the early 1990s, "Barefoot Boogie" in San Francisco offered twice weekly drug and alcohol free dance event very similar in form to contemporary ecstatic dance, without the name. In 2006, having met shamans in the Amazon, the Darling-Khans started their own ecstatic dance form, Movement Medicine.[40] The science and environment journalist Christine Ottery, writing for the British newspaper The Guardian in 2011, suggested that "ecstatic dancing has an image problem",[41] but that it "encompasses everything from large global movements such as 5Rhythms and Biodanza to local drum'n'dance meet-ups".[41] Reviewing her experience of 5Rhythms for the newspaper, she suggests that readers may "find 5 Rhythms a good place to start" if wanting to try ecstatic dance.[41]
However, there are other styles that have been developed in North America, too, including the Ecstatic Dance Community founded in 2000 by Bodhi Tara at
Reception
20th century attitudes
The
Philosophy
The
Psychology
The
Mindfulness
The nursing researcher Yaowarat Matchim and colleagues write that while mindfulness meditation arose in Buddhism, practices that provoke mindfulness are found in wisdom traditions around the world; such practices include ecstatic dance as well as yoga, prayer, music, and art.[50]
Parallels
The anthropologist Michael J. Winkelman suggests that shamanism and modern raves share structures including social ritual and the use of dance and music for bonding, for communication of emotions, and for their effects on consciousness and personal healing.[51]
The musicologist Rupert Till places contemporary club dancing to
Documentation
In their 2003 documentary Dances of Ecstasy, the filmmakers Michelle Mahrer and Nicole Ma portrayed ecstatic dances from around the world, with traditional dances by the San of the
See also
References
- ^ Versnal, H. S. "Ecstasy". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third, revised ed.). p. 505.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Zmolek, Paul; Zmolek, Josephine A. (2002). "Dance as Ecstatic Ritual/Theatre" (PDF). Callous Physical Theature. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0500810064.
- ISBN 978-0691119427.
- ^ a b c d Rooke, Jacques. "The Restorative Effects of Ecstatic Dance: A Qualitative Study" (PDF). Retrieved 29 March 2018.
- ^ "Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms". 5Rhythms. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ Dickason, Kathryn (10 April 2014). "Stanford scholar studies ancient Greek dance performances from the viewers' perspective". Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-1163177228.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-62055-023-6.
- ^ a b Russell, Meredith (August 2003). The Danced Space, Ancient and Modern | The Role of Transformation in Classical Indian and Modern Dance. University of South Australia (Ph. D. Thesis). p. 38.
- ^ a b c Mahrer, Michelle; Ma, Nicole (October 2003). Dances of Ecstasy (booklet inside DVD case). Opus Arte, a label of Naxos Records.
- ISBN 978-0-89281-622-4.
- ^ "The Shaman Healing Dance of the San Bushmen". Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand. 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
- ^ a b c Karoblis, Gediminas (2007). "The Question Concerning Dance Technique". In Sepp, Hans Rainer; Copoeru, Ion (eds.). Phenomenology 2005, Vol. IV, Selected Essays from Northern Europe. Bucharest: Zeta Books. pp. 363–398.
- ^ Xygalatas, Dimitris (2007). "Firewalking and the Brain: The Physiology of High-Arousal Rituals". In Joseph Bulbulia; Richard Sosis; Erica Harris; Russell Genet; Cheryl Genet; Karen Wyman (eds.). Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critiques. Collins Foundation Press. pp. 189–195.
- S2CID 154450368.
- ISBN 978-0691028538.
- .
- ^ "The Sema of the Mevlevi". Mevlevi Order of America. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
- S2CID 145573700.
- ^ "Religions - Candomblé: Candomblé at glance". BBC. 15 September 2009.
- JSTOR 656349.
- .
- JSTOR 41389738.
- ^ M. Macha Nightmare, "Reclaiming Tradition Witchcraft" Archived 11 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Witchvox, 2001. Retrieved on 13 January 2008.
- ^ Cholla and Gabriel, Ecstasy and Transgression in the Faery Tradition Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, Witch Eye, 2000. Retrieved on 13 January 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-8240-4946-1.
- ISBN 978-0-7735-7607-0.
- ^ Cates, Meryl (24 December 2020). "Dancing by Herself: When the Waltz Went Solo". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ "Grete Wiesenthal (1885-1970)". Mahler Foundation. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ "Tantric Trance Dance | Moving Meditation and Alchemical Practice". Urubu. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-78180-784-2.
Dance has traditionally been a part of Tantric practice, at least for women, with the Devadasis being women who danced in Tantric temples... modern Tantra workshops often have a lot of dance in them. Freestyle dancing, such as ecstatic dance, is also often found in modern-day Tantra, for both men and women.
- ISBN 978-1-101-16082-4.
- ^ a b May, Meredith (25 October 2013). "Ecstatic dance moves the spirit, soothes the soul". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-931432-52-1.
- ISBN 978-1-59179-176-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87477-959-2.
- ^ Faulkner, Ian (1 March 2018). "The Healing Practice of Ecstatic Dance". Elephant Journal. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
- ^ "Welcome to Ecstatic Dance". Donna Carroll International. 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-84850-605-3.
- ^ a b c Ottery, Christine (21 July 2009). "Ecstatic dance: rhythm to beat the blues". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
- ^ a b "Ecstatic Dance Community". Ecstatic Dance Community. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
- ^ "Ecstatic Dance Evolution". Retrieved 15 October 2018.
- ^ "Ecstatic Dance Toronto". Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ^ Miller, Anna Medaris (24 May 2018). "What Is Ecstatic Dance – and Can It Improve Your Health?". US News.
- ^ JSTOR 38569.
- ^ Böhme, Fritz (1926). Tanzkunst (in German). Dessau: Dünnhaupt.
- ^ a b Toepfer, Karl (1997). Empire of Ecstasy | Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture, 1910–1935. University of California Press. p. 348.
- ^ PMID 6735917.
- ^ Matchim, Yaowarat; Armer, Jane M.; Stewart, Bob R. (October 2008). "A Qualitative Study of Participants' Perceptions of the Effect of Mindfulness Meditation Practice on Self-Care and Overall Well-Being" (PDF). Self-Care, Dependent-Care & Nursing. 16 (2): 46–53.
- ISBN 978-1466686656. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0754665274.
External links
- Archived Kalani.com Blog
- Leave Your Shoes at the Door – A Conscious Dance Documentary
- Dances of Ecstasy, a 2003 documentary about ecstatic dance forms around the world