Healing Dance of the San Tribe

The San people are from South Africa, Angola, Botswana and Namibia, they are formerly referred to as the Bushmen. These people were believed to have come from one the oldest surviving lineages of mankind. Their way of life is tied to the ancient time. The healing dance is a ritual-like practice that produces an altered consciousness through hyperventilation and rhythmic dance.

The dance is used for healing sick people and healing some of the negative habits of the people. Historians believe that this trance dance was recorded by southern African rock art.

For the San people of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Angola, dance is considered a sacred power. The whole community comes together around a fire for several hours or even an entire night, led by healers and elders. The healers dance around the fire, chant and hyperventilate until they induce a powerful trance-like state. In this state, they are granted access to the spirit world . The San healers aren’t just doing this to cure physical illnesses in their community – they also attempt to expel what they call “star sickness”.

The dance is the most prominent cultural and religious practice that the San people still practice.