172.70.91.31 at 20:24, 16 August 2022

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[[File:ChamDance.jpg|thumb|The Black-Hat Drum Cham ({{bo|w=zhwa nag rnga 'cham|s=zhanak ngacham}}),<ref name=Pearlman/> performed at the [[Honolulu Museum of Art]].]]
[[File:V Cham dance during Dosmoche festival20180213 130508.webm|thumb|Cham dance at [[Leh Palace]] during the [[Dosmoche]] festival, 13 February 2018.]]
The '''cham dance''' ({{bo|t=འཆམ་|w={{'}}cham}})<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/online/dictionaries/dz-en-dict/Contents/06-06-_CHA.html |title=༈ རྫོང་ཁ་ཨིང་ལིཤ་ཤན་སྦྱར་ཚིག་མཛོད། ༼འཆ-༽ |trans-title=Dzongkha-English Dictionary: "'CHA" |work=Dzongkha-English Online Dictionary |publisher=Dzongkha Development Commission, Government of Bhutan |access-date=11 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729030852/http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/online/dictionaries/dz-en-dict/Contents/06-06-_CHA.html |archive-date=29 July 2012 }}</ref><ref name=DWBDict>{{cite web |url=http://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/diction/diction.htm |title=Tibetan-English-Dictionary of Buddhist Teaching & Practice |publisher=Rangjung Yeshe Translations & Publications |work=Diamond Way Buddhism Worldwide |year=1996 |access-date=11 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328014624/http://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/diction/diction.htm |archive-date=28 March 2010 }} entry: 'cham.</ref> is a lively masked and costumed dance associated with some sects of [[Tibetan Buddhism]] and Buddhist festivals. The dance is accompanied by music played by [[bhikkhu|monks]] using traditional Tibetan [[musical instrument]]s. The dances often offer [[moral]] instruction relating to [[karuṇā]] (compassion) for [[sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient beings]] and are held to bring [[merit (Buddhism)|merit]] to all who perceive them.<ref name=Pearlman>{{cite book|title=Tibetan Sacred Dance: a Journey into the Religious and Folk Traditions |first=Ellen |last=Pearlman |publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co |year=2002 |pages=21, 32, 180 |isbn=978-0-89281-918-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JX-gKEJPszwC |access-date=16 October 2011}}</ref><ref name=Greenwood>{{cite book|title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife: Southeast Asia and India, Central and East Asia, Middle East |volume=2 |first=William M. |last=Clements |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-313-32849-7 |pages=106–110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvrWAAAAMAAJ |access-date=16 October 2011}}</ref>

Chams are considered a form of [[Buddhist meditation|meditation]] and an offering to the [[Deva (Buddhism)|gods]].<ref name="Schrempf">{{cite book |last=Schrempf |first=Mona |editor-last=Korom |editor-first=Frank J. |editor2-last=Steinkeller |editor2-first=Ernst |contribution=From 'Devil Dance' to 'World Healing': Some Representations, Perceptions, and Innovations of Contemporary Tibetan Ritual Dances |title=Proceedings of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies: Graz 1995 |series=vol. 4 |year=1995 |pages=91–102 |place=Wien |publisher= Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |isbn=370012659X |oclc=37538399 }}</ref> The leader of the cham is typically a musician, keeping time using some percussion instrument like [[cymbal]]s, the one exception being [[Dramyin Cham]], where time is kept using [[dramyin]].

The term "devil dance" was an early 20th century Western description of the performance; its name was derived from the costumes worn by performers.<ref name="Schrempf"/>

== Content ==
[[File:Devil Dance at Lama Temple, March 1 1919, Big Head Dancers.jpg|thumb|Two dancers during a cham dance at a temple in Beijing, 1 March 1919.]]
Chams often depict incidents from the life of [[Padmasambhava]], the 9th century [[Nyingma]]pa teacher, and other saints.<ref name=DR>[http://portal.unesco.org/culture/fr/file_download.php/93012f1857c2e04571e63ffeeaf409d2dobson.pdf Dancing on the demon's back: the dramnyen dance and song of Bhutan]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, by Elaine Dobson, John Blacking Symposium: Music, Culture and Society, Callaway Centre, University of Western Australia, July 2003</ref>

The great debate of the Council of Lhasa between the two principal debators or dialecticians, [[Moheyan]] and [[Kamalaśīla]] is narrated and depicted in a specific cham dance once held annually at [[Kumbum Monastery]] in [[Qinghai]].<ref>Roccasalvo, Joseph F.(1980). 'The debate at bsam yas: religious contrast and correspondence.' ''Philosophy East and West'' 30:4 (October 1980). The University of Press of Hawaii. Pp.505-520. Source: [http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/joseph.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303211837/http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/joseph.htm |date=3 March 2016 }} (accessed: 17 December 2007)</ref> One iteration of this dance is performed on the eve of [[Losar]], the Tibetan new year, to commemorate the assassination of the cruel Tibetan king, [[Langdarma]] in 841 CE by a monk called Lahlungpa Pelgyi Dorje. The monk dressed in a black robe and a black hat and danced outside the palace until he was allowed to perform in front of the emperor and assassinate him.<ref name="tsd">{{cite book |last1=Pearlman |first1=Ellen |title=Tibetan sacred dance : a journey into the religious and folk traditions |date=2002 |publisher=Inner Traditions |location=Rochester, Vt. |isbn=0892819189}}</ref> It is a dance symbolising the victory of good over evil.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shubhyatra.com/himachal-pradesh/lossar.html |title=Lossar Festival |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120154519/http://www.shubhyatra.com/himachal-pradesh/lossar.html |archive-date=20 January 2008}}</ref>

The Black Hat dance is a [[Vajrakilaya]] dance and is the dance most frequently depicted in paintings.<ref>[https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=160 Chitipati/Shri Shmashana Adhipati (protector)] - at [[Himalayan Art Resources]]</ref> The dance is performed by Buddhist monks and operates in two levels, to achieve enlightment and to destroy evil forces. The dances often hold a skull and scarf tied together and then attached to the hilt of a [[Phurba|purba]].<ref name="tsd"/>

== Localities ==

=== Bhutan ===
[[File:Jakar tshechu, Ging Tsholing Cham (15844504202).jpg|thumb|Dzongkhag dancers during a Tshechu in [[Jakar]], Bhutan, 14 October 2013.]]

In [[Bhutan]], the dances are performed during the annual [[religious festival]]s or [[tshechu]], held in the [[dzong]] in each district. The Cham is performed by monks, sometimes nuns, and villagers. The [[Royal Academy of Performing Arts]] is the main body which promotes the preservation of the culture of Cham and the dances.

=== India ===
Dances are performed in [[Lahaul and Spiti district]], [[Sikkim]], [[Dharamshala]], Kalimpong Darjeeling, Pedong [sang hen Dorjee Gompa] and [[Ladakh]] during cultural and religious festivals.

=== Mongolia ===
Tsam ([[Mongolian language|Mongolian]]: Цам) dance was not introduced to Mongolia until the early 19th century, however it rapidly gained popularity and visibility with celebrations such as the Tsam festival.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mroczynski|first=Mikaela|date=2008-04-01|title=Art, Ritual, and Representation: An Exploration of the Roles of Tsam Dance in Contemporary Mongolian Culture|url=https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/57|journal=Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Dancing Demons - Ceremonial Masks of Mongolia|url=http://sites.asiasociety.org/arts/mongolia/tsam.html|access-date=2021-09-03|website=sites.asiasociety.org}}</ref> Tsam came to incorporate both tantric and older, [[Mongolian shamanism|shamanistic]] elements of dance It became a significant part of [[Buddhism in Mongolia]] before being banned under [[Mongolian People's Republic|communist rule]] in 1924. The [[Stalinist repressions in Mongolia|Stalinist purges in Mongolia]] destroyed over 700 monasteries, killed tens of thousands of Mongolian monks and lamas, and forcibly laicized thousands more monks. The mass murder of so much of Mongolia's monastic culture seriously threatened the preservation of tsam dance with extinction, as there were few practitioners who had survived the purges. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and introduction of a new constitution permitting religious practices, the practice and performance of tsam dancing has grown enormously. Many of the costumes and masks used for tsam dances survived Soviet purges of monasteries and temples by being buried, hidden, or stored in museums such as the [[Choijin Lama Temple]] Museum.

=== Tibet ===
Tibetans usually perform chams to large audiences during the [[Monlam Prayer Festival]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://tibet.news.cn/english/2010-02/28/c_13191476_2.htm|title=Backgrounder: Monlam Prayer Festival|work=Focus on Tibet|publisher=[[Xinhua]]|date=28 February 2010|access-date=2 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425013809/http://tibet.news.cn/english/2010-02/28/c_13191476_2.htm|archive-date=25 April 2012}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Chöd]]
* [[Nechung Oracle]]
* [[Trance]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
*Forman, Werner (photographs) & Rintschen, Bjamba (text) ''Lamaistische Tanzmasken: der Erlik-Tsam in der Mongolei''. Leipzig: Koehler & Amelang, 1967 (text translated into German from Russian)

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://bhutan.ims.tuwien.ac.at/ahtcde00/c-viex/l-01-03-04-01/start.html Description of Black Hat dance in Bhutan]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080628180222/http://www.englander-workshops.com/gallery.php?gid=6 Examples of Cham Dance]
* [http://bhutan.ims.tuwien.ac.at/ahtcde00/grafik/videostatic/o_ging.html Video of Dance of the Ging]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tibetan culture]]
[[Category:Bhutanese culture]]
[[Category:National symbols of Bhutan]]
[[Category:Himalayan dances]]
[[Category:Dance in Tibet]]
[[Category:Buddhist rituals]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhist practices]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhist festivals]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhist art and culture]]
[[Category:Sacred dance]]
[[Category:Masked dances]]
[[Category:Masquerade ceremonies in Asia]]
[[Category:Ritual animal disguise]]

Cham dance - Revision history

172.70.91.31 at 20:24, 16 August 2022