Performance as Worship - Can Performance be a Means to Connect with the Divine?
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Authors
Haq, Hasan ul
Issue Date
2025-05-01
Type
thesis_open
Language
Keywords
Performance , Sufism , Clowning , Trance , Spirituality , Music , Qawwali , Other Theatre and Performance Studies
Performance Studies
Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Theatre and Performance Studies
Alternative Title
Theatre Thesis - Written Thesis
Abstract
In this paper I raise the question whether performance or performance-making at large can be considered an act of worship or a means to connect with the Divine. I delve into Sufi ritual music-making and movement practices such as the sema and qawwali to understand what is a Sufi doing and trying to achieve in these practices as well as the entrancing state they arrive at to be in communion with the Divine. I later dive into the pedagogy and practices of clowning to understand the experiences of performers as their clown and draw comparisons between ways of being of the Sufis and the ways of being of the clown. Finally I make the argument that these states of being and pleasure are essentially the primal nature of humans and perhaps the modern human is only misdirected from her “true-inner” purpose.
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