4 from ritual to theater and back: the efficacy ... - AAAARG.ORG

drama, script, theater, and performance 91
obviously amateur, dancer began to perform. No one stopped him or
derided him, but he was studiously ignored, which in Sri Lankan society
is a distinct put-down. He was drunk or I’m sure he would have
ended his dance even more abruptly than he did. On the other hand, a
very old man who, I was told, was the village’s chief “devil dancer”
executed a few steps and sang a chant to the full appreciation of a
very quiet crowd. The old man had no skills in the usual theatrical
sense, but he was thought to have “power,” and was deeply respected,
even feared, for this. His presence rather than his theatrical ability
got attention.
Preparations for the trance-fire dance began a little before 4 a.m. The
thovil had come almost to a complete halt before then. The musicians
were drunk, most of the village was asleep except for about a dozen
men who were gambling in a shelter about 50 feet from the oval. The
trance dancer was a young medical technician from Colombo. We had
driven to Koratota with him. On our way out I questioned him:
“How did you become a trance dancer?”
“My teacher taught me.”
“Why do you do it?”
“I like it. I earn extra money.”
“Does your dancing conflict with the ‘scientific ideas’ of your
work?”
“No. Why should it?”
The preparations for the trance-fire dance were very simple. The
man sat in a chair behind the shelter containing the main altar. He
looked at himself in a hand-mirror. Two assistants wrapped his torso
with a bandage like cloth, very stiffly. (This is very much how young
trance-dancing girls are wrapped in Bali.) When he was firmly
wrapped, incense was lit, and he took very deep drafts of it, holding
the incense tray directly below his nose. Finally, he put on his turbanlike
head-dress. After about 20 minutes his assistants lifted him from
the chair and placed him at the end of the oval.
A large crowd of about 400 had gathered, and they were very quiet.
The musicians – two drummers, a flute player, and several singers –
were sitting expectantly on their mats. Very suddenly the drums began
a very loud, very fast beat and the dancer leaped to the center of the
oval. I say leaped – the dance was incredibly athletic. Some of it was sheer