From the Chinese religious ecstatic to the Taiwanese theatre of ecstasy: A study of the wu

Ecstasy, often described as an ineffable experience, is the locus of discussion in this study of the wu that begins by examining early Chinese texts, and ends with a Taiwanese contemporary dance drama called the Nine Songs (Jiuge) (1993) by Lin Huaimin. The study of early Chinese texts and a dance drama are joined together by the role of the wu. Using Richard Schechner's theories of religious performance and transformation (1976, 1985, and 1990), I compare how the texts and a dance drama refer to the wu as a religious and theatrical performer. Continuing in the direction of Richard Schechner, this religious study of the wu examines how contemporary performance reinvents classical texts, poetry, rituals and the aesthetics of transformation.;My understanding of Lin Huaimin's dance drama has been guided by Martha Graham's "theatre of ecstasy," a technique that uses dance movement and imagery to stir the performer to exaltation and joy. Following Lin to the study of the wu in traditional texts, I introduce the definitions of religious ecstatics and the dance drama, and append to my thesis copies of the program and colour pictures. A video is also available. Then, I examine the religious roles the wu performs in Confucian and Moist texts, as well as in Daoist texts. After that, I discuss the Nine Songs and how it details the role of the religious ecstatic through imagery. Later on, I explore how the wu performed early dances and exorcisms, and how the wu's role changed over time. I discuss how Lin Huaimin's contemporary Nine Songs is a reinterpretation of the original Nine Songs and also of the wu's role in Chinese antiquity, using the technique of the "theatre of ecstasy" to perform some of the roles of the wu in Chinese texts. Lin's wu also demonstrates through movement and imagery the importance of transformation in ecstatic religious performance. In this way, Lin's drama, which is also political allegory, is blended with popular religion to evoke the power of religious ecstasy.