Cham - Ritual Dances of Bhutan
As some of you who follow my blog know I am interested in the arts and culture of the Himalayan region. In July 2006, I had been a witness to similar dance performances at the Phyang Tsedup festival in Ladakh, India. The Rubin Museum of Art which I am member of is opening a new exhibition on Sept. 19: The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan. The opening celebrations include ritual dance performances from Sept. 13 – 21, 2008 throughout the boroughs of NYC. I caught up with one at the South Street Seaport on Monday afternoon. Supposedly, just by being a part of the audience I was accumulating merit and getting closer to enlightenment;)
Cham is the ancient ritual dance of Tantric Buddhism performed at religious festivals in Bhutan, the last Himalayan Kingdom. The dances typically impart moral instruction or illustrate teachings. An hour-long event was performed by a group of twelve monks from the monastic fortress in Trongsa. It included two common dances: TUM NGAM (Dance of the Terrifying Deities) and SHANAG NGACHAM (Dance of the Black Hats With Drums). They both feature wrathful deities that destroy evil demons – greed, ignorance, pride, and other spiritual poisons – that stand in the way of our reaching enlightenment.
More photos will be uploaded over the weekend…
UPDATE (Sept. 20th, 08): My flickr set of 20 photos from the performance is up: Cham - Ritual Dances of Bhutan (2008).
UPDATE (Sept. 30th, 08): I just realized that I had shot a short 23-second video clip of the Cham dance performance. Check it out, it really gets you closer to the actual performance. I need to do more of it: Cham - Ritual Dances of Bhutan video. Plus, you can also see it in my Video section of the blog.
