The dance of ecstasy: Sanghyang Dedari

If the Balinese dances are part of a knowledge of the local culture essential in the visit to the Island of the Gods it is necessary to understand that each of them has a specific function and is linked to different events and deities. This is the case of the Sanghyang Dedari, one of the Balinese dances declared Universal Heritage by UNESCO, not a simple folkloristic manifestation but a real example of mysticism. Legend tells that girls were singing and dancing near a temple during an epidemic and that one of them was possessed by a spirit. Since then, dance was considered saving against catastrophes or epidemics and is carried out specifically in a series of sacred ceremonies. The solemnity that surrounds the dance is due precisely to the ecstasy that the dancers must reach, girls in the prepuberal age, or the dancers involved in a kind of collective trance that amplifies the spiritual atmosphere of the ceremony. Accompanied by the music of the Gamelan Palegongan, the dancers move almost unconsciously on the shoulders of their bearers, men who transport them to the place prescribed for the actual dance during which the purification process takes place. The other dancers also get up and dance with their eyes closed by participating in the ritual which ends with the recovery of consciousness of the dancers who have been sprinkled with water. ​