Trance and Dance in Bali

Trance and Dance in Bali (1952)

Filmed in Bali in 1937 and released in 1952, this short documentary records a staged performance of the Kris Dance, documenting trance, ritual possession, and ceremonial movement within Balinese religious practice.

Date of release
1952-01-02
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (10)
Runtime
22m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Gregory Bateson, Margaret Mead

Casting

Interesting facts

Trance and Dance in Bali is a short documentary film shot by the anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson during their research on Bali in the 1930s. It shows female dancers with sharp kris daggers dancing in trance, eventually stabbing themselves without injury. The film was not released until 1951. It has attracted praise from later anthropologists for its pioneering achievement, and criticism for its focus on the performance, omitting relevant details such as the conversation of the dancers.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended