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Sanghyang Dance (The Dance of Spirits)

Published 1 year, 5 months ago in Arts & Culture by ablteam | 2,642 Views

The Sanghyang dance is included in trance dance genre. This dance is believed to have the power to invite the gods or sacred spirits to enter the body of the dancers and put them in a state of trance. It dates back to the ancient Pre-Hindu culture, a time when the Balinese people strongly believed that by the help of Holy Spirit through a medium of dancer sickness and disease could be eliminated. The is dance is usually performed in the fifth or sixth month of the Balinese traditional calendar as it is believe that during these particular months, the Balinese are vulnerable to all kinds of illnesses, or in the time of plague, failed crops or disaster.

There are 6 kinds of sanghyang dance widely known by the people: Sangyang Dedari, Sanghyang Deling, Sanghyang Jaran, Sanghyang Bojog, Sanghyang Celeng and Sanghyang Grobogan.

Sanghyang Dedari is a sacred dance which can be found Badung, Gianyar and Bangli regency. This sacred dance is used to ward the pestilence or plague which swept Bali when the fanged demon living on the little island of Nusa Penida comes to Bali. Two dancers are chosen from all the girls of the village for their psychic aptitudes by the temple priest, to receive the spirit of heavenly nymphs, Dedari Supraba and Tunjung Biru (Blue Lotus). At the death temple, the Sanghyang Dedari dancers in white skirts kneel before a brazier of smoking incense in front of the altar.

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During a trance ceremony, the priest makes offerings to the temple deity, requesting protection for the village. A chorus of women is seated in a circle around them, singing the Sanghyang song, which asks the celestial nymphs to descend from heaven and dance before the people through the girls’ bodies and incense is wafted about them.

Nadi; Trance in the Balinese Art;1999

The girls rock back and forth in a trance until they fall, and the women remove their white skirts, replace them with gilt one, place holy head-dresses with fresh frangipani flowers decorations on their heads and gently lift them to the men’s shoulders. Then the Sanghyangs are carried to another temple or tour the village to ward the pestilence. The Sanghyangs stand and dance a kind of legong style with their eyes closed as if they were in a dream on the shoulder of the carriers.

Nadi; Trance in the Balinese Art;1999

Though their eyes are shut, their movements are in perfect unison. The temperamental Sanghyangs may suddenly decide that the dance is over. Then they must be taken out of trance with more songs and offerings. They distribute the flower from their head-dresses as amulets and sprinkle the crowd with holy water. The ceremony last for two or three hours.

Sanghyang Deling is found in Kintamani and other villages around the crater of Lake Batur. Two Girls are put into trance by means of two dolls representing the deities, strung trough their middles by chord, the ends of which attached to short stick tensely held by two boys. The string with the doll is held taut in front of two kneeling girls, song are chanted, and the boys go into trance; their arms become rigid and commence to shake, causing the dolls to dance back and forth across the cord. As the boys shake more and more violently, the vibration increases and the dolls leap, whirl and, clash against each other. The girls have become drowsy and suddenly faint, going into trance to be dressed and dance as in Sanghyang Dedari.

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