Tribal Trance Dance

"dance that moves the soul"

Trance Dance is a journey of de-attachment to what is, and communion with what will be

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Africa

contemporary street scene and some from the herding bushmen of the Kalahari. It can truly be said that African music is  "music that moves the soul".

The people of sub-Sahara Africa depend on music to nourish nearly every phase of their lives. In ceremonies and rituals celebrating birth, health, marriage, initiations, and formal religious worship, music prescribed for the occasion is performed by professionals and lay persons.

Ordinary daily activities are surrounded by many types of folk music, such as work songs, solo instrumental improvisations,  medicinal music, the music of wandering minstrels, spontaneous songs, and music performed purely for the participants' enjoyment.

African gods are believed to be great music-lovers who scorn performances that lack energetic animation. Striving constantly for perfection in every aspect of their music, Africans illustrate the reality of an old saying: "When the music is sweet, even the crippled will wish to dance".

Many African musicians travel from village to village, bringing music for dance and entertainment, and often bring news of important regional events. While passing the long hot days in the shade, musicians often play for their own enjoyment and may use their music to imitate the sounds of birds, insects, and other creatures.

Most often music was the driver for dance expression, generally with the males on the instrumental side and females dancing. In most indigenous tribes, it is thought that the females were originally playing the music but found dancing to be more expressive and thus turned the instrument playing over to the males.

Enjoy!

Some of the music we will be dancing to will shake your foundation of what might be expected. African music genres vary widely, just like in our own culture (blues, jazz, rock, R&B, hip hop, etc), however where possible I have selected African music that might illustrate the more traditional sound to indigenous culture, even though the music itself is contemporary. It is diverse. Some from the

The Middle East and North Africa are built on a magnificent legacy of civilizations dating back to ancient times. Science, the arts, written language, mathematics, a legal system, and other hallmarks of civilization flourished in ancient Sumer, Persia, Egypt, and other parts of the region, leaving a lasting influence on the later cultures of Greece and Rome. Today, this part of the world continues to offer the world a rich cultural contribution, as home to three major world religions, a vibrant entertainment industry, a fascinating tradition of folkloric music and dance, and a growing economic power base.

Middle East

time he/she plays or sings it. Arabic music is monophonic (one line of sound, no harmony). In contrast, Western music (music of the U.S. and Europe) has harmony and chords. Western music is "polyphonic", meaning many sounds" and includes harmony and chords. Also there are almost no changes made to the original written music. Western musicians do not improvise much, except in certain kinds of jazz.

Classical Arabic music does not use harmony. The music is sung or played in a solo, or by a single musician. Sometimes there is a group of musicians who repeat what the soloist sang or played, but without harmony. Part of the reason why there is no harmony is because the soloist often improvises

or makes changes in the music each

Middle Eastern Music is played on a unique and characteristic set of instruments that are used  in the Arab classical orchestra and or by Sufi musicians. Most of these instruments are rather ancient. Some can

Raqs Sharqi (pronounced Roks Sharkee) literally translated means 'dance from the East', and has its roots in Middle Eastern fertility ceremonies - a dance performed by women for women. It was originally taught to girls from an early age in order to strengthen their abdominal muscles in preparation for childbirth. The muscle isolation techniques require practice and control, and the smaller the movement, the greater the control and the more the muscle is exercised. It's a fact that exercise mitigates pain. The women of the Middle East knew this, and so the dance was born through abdominal movements like pelvic rocking and belly roll.  While few men practice Raqs Sharqi, they too can greatly benefit the strength in their torso.

The term 'belly dance' is said to come from the French 'danse du ventre' - dance of the stomach - a phrase coined at the turn of the century after the introduction of Raqs Sharqi at the Chicago Exposition in 1893 by a dancer called 'Little Egypt'.

be traced to ancient Egypt and to Ur, and they are also the forerunners of modern European instruments.

Culture:

Modesty and chastity, very important ideologies with Islam, are achieved by prescribing standards on behavior and the dress of a Muslim, for both woman and men. A woman who adheres to the tenements of Islam is required to follow the dress code called Hijab, other synonyms are Veil, Purdah, or just Covering. It is an act of faith and establishes a Muslim's life with honor, respect and dignity. The Hijab is viewed as a liberation for women, in that the covering brings about "an aura of respect" and women are recognized as individuals who are admired for their mind and personality, "not for their beauty or lack of it".

In the West, the veil is perceived as a symbol of repression and control. It is one of the great ironies of our world today that the very same head scarf revered as a sign of 'holiness' when worn for the purpose of showing the authority of man by Catholic Nuns, is reviled as a sign of 'oppression' when worn for the purpose of protection by Muslim women.

Cultures vary widely with regard to these traditions. Tolerance of cultural differences is important for world peace and harmony.

Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia

To an unaccustomed Western ear the most startling feature of Mongolian music is its overtone singing (also called diphonic): the production of two vocal sounds at one time by the same singer. It isn’t exclusive to Mongolia — the Tibetan monks also practice it. The range of vocal resonance is staggering: Another man sings at times with the kind of buzzing hum normally only achieved by banging on big rubber tubes, and, though nobody sings with more than two voices at the same time, some of them seem to use more than four or five vocal sounds within a single song.

And the dancing?  At first it looks as if dancers are marking the movement, but soon it’s apparent that this is through-the-body movement, sometimes with a series of wrist-flicks that send keen currents rippling down to the feet. Often they mime actions (archery, lassoing, flying) above the waist while bouncing or pacing a rhythm with the legs. No part of the body is livelier than the shoulders, chugging together or in alternation, and they are always involved in a larger action.

The Mongolians love the grassland, love dancing and singing. The Mongolian people created a lot of dances and music, of which the most famous one is Andai Dance. Of course in the trance dance the dancer will create their own sense of reception leading to trance as the Shaman's of Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia and Siberia have done for thousands of years.

The wind horse is an allegory for the human soul in the shamanistic tradition of Central Asia. In Tibetan Buddhism, it was included as the pivotal element in the center of the four animals symbolizing the cardinal directions and a symbol of the idea of well-being or good fortune. It has also given the name to a type of prayer flag that has the five animals printed on it.

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