Jack Posted October 6, 2003 DANCES OF ECSTASY DOCUMENTARY Hi Fi Bar & Ballroom 125 Swantston St Friday 10 October 8 pm till late Film Screening at 8.30 pm Royal African Drummers from Ghana live DJ Kundalini & Krusty Lush Installation & Décor from: Sioux, Geni Flip, Voo Doo, Space Between the Gaps Prismatic Projections & Video Manipulation from: Silent Disco Bookings Ticketmaster 1300 136 166 $30 full $25 concession Details 9531 7474 www.dancesofecstasy.com A documentary film by Michelle Mahrer and Nicole Ma “To trance is to move beyond yourself, your ego, your personality, and to listen to the rhythm of life that is within all of us. DANCES OF ECSTASY is a sensory journey into the mesmerising world of trance and ecstasy that binds dancers from Manhattan to Morocco. The film travels to traditional and modern day trance dance rituals all over the planet, recording some astounding footage that connects the timeless path that is the TRANCE state within the human condition. Dance and specifically trance dance is a phenomena celebrated by all human cultures throughout millennia and it is the intention of this film to share that central moment of ecstatic dance with the audience. DANCES OF ECSTASY celebrates the commonality of the human experience where rhythm and dance unite us. By interweaving traditional and contemporary rituals, the film reveals the many dimensions of trance and ecstasy. What links them together is the universal need to connect with a spiritual dimension, which is very much alive in some traditional cultures while others seek to rebuild it and modern culture searches for it. The film is a visual and aural feast that integrates exciting dance rituals, evocative imagery, interviews and a spellbinding global music soundtrack. The film is an inspiration to dance, and to reconnect with a sense of the sacred that many have lost touch with in modern life. “This documentary film explores how different people around the world connect with the transcendental forces through rhythm and dance. As human beings we are all seeking the same thing. We all want to belong, to feel that we are part of something greater than our individual selves” says Nicole. The film interweaves traditional and contemporary rituals including the Whirling Ritual of the Dervishes, a Sufi chanting ceremony, a San trance healing ceremony in the Kalahari desert in Namibia, a Yoruba spirit possession ceremonies from Nigeria and Brazil, ravers dancing all night at the Rainbow Serpent Festival in Victoria and a New Age dance workshop led by Gabrielle Roth in New York. The Melbourne based film makers Michelle Mahrer and Nicole Ma’s intention with this project was to create something that can take the audience on a journey into the experience of trance. The film is experiential with mesmerising visuals and a hypnotic soundtrack creating a sensation for the audience that is more like a poem rather than a documentary film. “I was looking at commonality and universality. What is it that unites us as human beings. Rhythm unites us, music unites us. I think that we as human beings are all searching for the same thing. We all want to belong, to connect to something greater than ourselves. I believe that in these trance rituals we can begin to experience a sense of our divine nature, that is beyond the mind” says Michelle. “I believe that some ravers working with mind altering substances and dancing all night and feeling the experience of oneness on the dance floor are trying to reach the same space as a Dervish who is whirling and communing with God – that feeling of oneness and dissolution of the individual self. Of course it is also the not the same and they are doing it in very different ways and with very different levels of awareness and knowledge and skill, and young people often need to take drugs to even get a glimpse of those spaces whereas a Dervish maybe highly skilled. This film is really an exploration of how dance and rhythm takes you there” Michelle explains. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RonnySimulacrum Posted October 8, 2003 Sounds good, wish I could go to this. Hope to do a similar thing when the mushroom doco comes out in the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
