This project observes individuals performing extraordinary physical acts during altered states of consciousness - an anthropological and scientific voyage into the depths of the human mind. This project proposes the trance as a doorway to a transformation –a transition to broader horizons, a search inherent in humanity. Countless are the cultures and religions, which through rituals of music, dance, and the usage of substances come to these states of super-consciousness, allowing a greater comprehension of their surroundings.

“TRANCES” studies the most primitive ceremonies existing throughout our planet. The best experts in every field will join us to conduct an investigation of the mind and its unlimited potential. This project questions the reality we perceive, the limitations of our senses. We propose the altered states of consciousness as a tool to expand the human perception - a resource available since ancient times to clean, heal and ultimately, understand the spiritual world. Presently found not only among indigenous communities, but also in our Western culture, trance rituals across the world are a testimony left by our ancestors in their own search for answers.

From the most ancient cultures to the most extravagant urban tribes, the human being has demonstrated an undying curiosity to know about himself, and above all, the world around him. This search to see beyond has allowed our civilization to develop consciousness, which throughout history has brought many social, political and economic changes. In this sense, the necessity to search inside, the need to challenge our limits is not unique to the individual but is also expressed at the collective level. Although our main physical and physiological characteristics are constant and permanent, compared to our more “primitive” ancestors, it is these changes of consciousness that make us believe that we are a part of an "evolutionary" process, that is to say, it gives us the sensation that our world is evolving.

This project will present the trance as a process during which the individual takes a consciousness different from the reality that surrounds him and gives a comprehension of one of the most basic characteristic of the human being – its internal search reflected in rituals that alter the states of consciousness.

TRANCES investigates what is a trance state; what happens in the mind during such altered states of consciousness, why people around the world have the necessity to expand their awareness, and the various methods used in the different cultures to achieve it.

TRANCES uses anthropology to frame in three basic roots - the Natural (through the shamanic trances as a result of our divine connection with Nature), the Mystical (through religion and trances of possession as a way to reach the Divine), and the Physical (through sensory trances which aim to supercede our corporal limitations). We will study a diversity of trance rituals related to these three dimensions from three contrasting of points of views: Science, Anthropology and Spirituality.