Trance and Transformation in the San Great Dance

“/Kaggen gave us the song of this dance, and told us to dance to it, and people would die from it, and he would give us charms to raise them again. It is a circular dance of men and women, following each other, and it is danced all night."  (Qing 1873)

"Some fall down; some become as if mad and sick; blood runs from the noses of others whose charms are weak”. Qing (1873)

For the San, the indigenous people of southern Africa, the activation of energy and contact with the spirit word is achieved through the communal trance dance. After many hours of dancing, singing and clapping, the most experienced dancers (shaman or healers) enter a trance.

The trance dance ritual and the spirit world are frequently depicted in San rock art. The trance dance is performed for various reasons including for social cohesion, to heal, or to bring rain. This re-drawing of the painted trance dance scene was made by members of the Rock Art Research Institute team at Wits University.

This conceptual piece, by South African artist Russell Scott, speaks to the tiered cosmos in San religious thought. It deals with the entering into and returning from the spirit world. It portrays the shamanic figures seen in San painted rock art panels and the beings they encounter in the other realm.

Landscapes were complex and meaningful spaces to the San. Small and inconspicuous features of a landscape, such as shallow water pans, low rocky outcrops and termite mounds were important - these places allowed access to the spirit world.

The spirit world is described as being both below ground and in the sky above. Only certain San ritual specialists can enter this alternative world. It is particularly during the trance dance that movement between the two worlds is facilitated.

Many of the experiences reported by San in trance may seem strange and peculiar. For example, some report that they change into animal form during the dance. This experience of transformation is often depicted in the rock art. Images of therianthropes – part human, part animal – are abundant in rock art sites throughout southern Africa. These wooden creatures are sculpted in a flattened relief, remaining faithful to the original two-dimensional artworks.

The continuation of the installation depicts an eland-headed snake weaving in and out of the wall. In San rock art, the rock surface was believed to be a veil between the real and spirit worlds - images are painted appearing from or entering into cracks or crevices in the rock surface.

The human-like figure with feathered wings in this panel from the Eastern Cape of South Africa, likely refers to the sensation of flying that people experience during trance or altered states of consciousness. The upside-down animal on the right is bleeding from the nose, likely symbolizing ritual or spiritual death of a healer in the spiritual realm.

The sounds of the dance are said to attract restless spirits-of-the-dead. According to San religious beliefs, upon death all people become spirits-of-the-dead. They sometimes return to the living world where they bring disease or steal souls. Healers then undertake the difficult journey to the spirit world in order to retrieve the stolen soul, or to find the power to heal the sick.

Once an altered state is induced, the brain begins to generate its own imagery. During the final stages of an altered state, people experience complex physical sensations, such as the sensation of extra digits (polymelia), dissolving of limbs, or a feeling of transformation into animal form (therianthropy).

Other strange creatures also inhabit the spirit world. One of the most fearsome is the rain-animal. In times of drought, a shaman or healer must visit the spirit world to lure the ferocious rain-animal out. Once caught, the animal is guided into the real world, where it is taken to the place where rain is needed.

Although this may look like a regular hunting scene at first glance, it portrays mythical beings, possibly showing a healer's journey to the spirit world.
This image is a reprint of Harold Pager's copy of San painted rock art in Sebaaieni Cave, Ndedema Gorge, Drakensberg, South Africa.

A series of anthropomorphic figures. These figures wearing karosses and carrying bows and arrows, appear to be human yet they all have no feet and have the head of buck. The figures are interpreted as mythological beings or healers entering the spirit world, through trance.

This large embroidered panel by South African artist Tamar Mason, depicts the trance dance in action. Figures clap, sing and dance around the fire to help aid the healers to make the ascent into the spiritual realm.