Cham dance describing the Tantric form of Buddhism in Bhutan

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Dancers, wearing long brocade robes and ornate black hats, perform the Shana Cham dance. The dancers' who represent the Ging wear shorter robes with masks. This dance is performed to purify the ground and to chase away evil influences and is performed during the Tsechu festival in Bhutan. • The Black Hat dancers assume the appearance of yogis who have the power of killing and recreating life. In order to lead to the field of Buddha beings who cannot be led by peaceful means, they subdue these enemies of the Doctrine through their external compassionate anger but internally they have an accomplished peaceful mind. They have the appearance of Tantrists who are good to beings through terrifying but really accomplished acts such as killing and expelling bad spirits. By the wisdom of their knowledge, the five poisonous sins disappeared in the sphere of emptiness. • This dance can also be referred to as 'Gar' dance. It is derived from the different traditions of the Tantras (texts of Northern buddhism). They say that with the help of gods who have meditated deeply upon the mantras (sacred formulas), the 'Gar' which are the gestures of the dancers' hands are transformed into mudras (sacred mystic gestures) and their feet which pound the earth are forming a mandala (mystic geometric figure). • The Black Hat Dancers who perform the ritual for the earth firstly build a tantric mandala and then cut the demons into pieces. Thus, they take possession of the earth in order to further protect it and they dance the thunderbolt step to impress their power on it (The thunderbolt step is a particular step in the religious dances). • Tsechu (literally day ten ) are annual religious Bhutanese festivals held in each district or dzongkhag of Bhutan on the tenth day of a month of the lunar Tibetan calendar. The month depends on the place, but usually is around the time of October. Tsechus are religious festivals of Drukpa Buddhism. The Thimphu tsechu and tha Paro tsechu are among the biggest of the tsechus in terms of participation and audience. Tsechus are large social gatherings, which perform the function of social bonding among people of remote and spread-out villages. Large markets also congregate at the fair locations, leading to brisk commerce. • The focal point of the tsechus are the sacred Cham Dances, which are banned in neighbouring Tibet.[citation needed] These costumed, masked dances typically are moral vignettes, or based on incidents from the life of the 9th century Nyingmapa teacher Padmasambhava and other saints. • Most tsechus also feature the unfurling of a thongdrel (or thangka) - a large tapestry typically depicting a seated Guru Rinpoche surrounded by holy beings, the mere viewing of which is said to cleanse the viewer of sin. The thongdrel is raised before dawn and rolled down by morning. • Because tsechus depend on the availability of masked dancers, registered dancers are subject to fine if they refuse to perform during festivals. • source - http://www.visitbhutan.com/Fest_wangd... • This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and [email protected].

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