Trance

Trance denotes any state of awareness or consciousness other than normal waking consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.

The term trance may be associated with hypnosis, meditation, magic, flow, and prayer. It may also be related to the earlier generic term, altered states of consciousness, which is no longer used in "consciousness studies" discourse.

Etymology

Trance in its modern meaning comes from an earlier meaning of "a dazed, half-conscious or insensible condition or state of fear", via the Old French transe "fear of evil", from the Latin transīre "to cross", "pass over". This definition is now obsolete.

Working models

Wier, in his 1995 book, Trance: from magic to technology, defines a simple trance (p. 58) as a state of mind being caused by cognitive loops where a cognitive object (thoughts, images, sounds, intentional actions) repeats long enough to result in various sets of disabled cognitive functions. Wier represents all trances (which include sleep and watching television) as taking place on a dissociated trance plane where at least some cognitive functions such as volition are disabled; as is seen in what is typically termed a 'hypnotic trance'. With this definition, meditation, hypnosis, addictions and charisma are seen as being trance states. In Wier's 2007 book, The Way of Trance, he elaborates on these forms, adds ecstasy as an additional form and discusses the ethical implications of his model, including magic and government use which he terms "trance abuse".

Trance (Steve Kuhn album)

Trance is an album by American jazz pianist and composer Steve Kuhn recorded in 1974 and released on the ECM label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating "This is jazz that touches on fusion, modal, and the new spirit of the music as ECM came into the 1970s as a player. There is restlessness and calm, tempestuousness and serenity, conflict and resolution, and -- above all -- creativity and vision".

Track listing

Personnel

References

Standing Stone (album)

Standing Stone is Paul McCartney's second full-length release of original classical music (coming after 1991's Liverpool Oratorio) and was issued shortly after Flaming Pie's release in 1997. The world premiere performance was held at The Royal Albert Hall on 14 October 1997.

History

Following up on 1991's Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio, the Standing Stone project was composed out of a long poem McCartney authored and was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Lawrence Foster at EMI's Abbey Road Studios. Unlike Liverpool Oratorio, this new project is not an operatic performance of a story, but an instrumental one, though it employs the use of a choir.

The cover for the album is actually one of the many photos taken by Linda McCartney during late 1969/early 1970 that would initially be seen on the inside gatefold cover of Paul's first album McCartney. Incidentally, this project was her husband's last release before Linda died of breast cancer on 17 April 1998, having been diagnosed almost three years earlier.

Trance (disambiguation)

A trance is an altered state of consciousness.

Trance may also refer to:

Film and television

Literature

Music

Other uses

Trance (1998 film)

Trance (retitled The Eternal for DVD release) is a 1998 horror film directed and written by Michael Almereyda. The film's score features music by Mark Geary. It premiered on Toronto Film Festival, and was released as direct-to-video in the United States.

Plot

Nora and Jim are an alcoholic couple. After a night of drinking, Nora experiences a flashback and falls down the stairs of their New York apartment building. Though alright, she complains of headaches, and her doctor orders her to give up alcohol. For the sake of their son Jimmy, Nora and Jim pledge to sober up, but the doctor expresses skepticism when he learns they will be traveling to Ireland to visit Nora's elderly grandmother. Nora assures her doctor they will purge themselves of all their bad habits there.

In Ireland, Nora and Jim stop at a pub to get directions. While drinking, they run into Joe, one of Nora's old friends. He warns them that Nora's Uncle Bill has gone insane. Jim becomes jealous and starts a fight with Joe, and they are thrown out of the pub. Before they reach the mansion, Nora has another vision and crashes the car. Though none of them are injured, they are forced to walk the rest of the way. Alice, a young girl adopted by Bill, leads them there.

Trance (2013 film)

Trance is a 2013 British psychological thriller film directed by Danny Boyle with a screenplay by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge from a story by Ahearne. The film stars James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel, and Rosario Dawson. The world premiere of the film was held in London on 19 March 2013.

Plot

Simon (McAvoy), an art auctioneer, becomes an accessory to the theft of a painting–Goya's Witches in the Air–from his own auction house. When a gang attacks during an auction, Simon follows the house emergency protocol by packaging the painting. The gang's leader Franck (Cassel) then takes the package from him at gunpoint. Simon attacks Franck, who delivers him a blow to the head that leaves him with amnesia. When Franck gets home, he discovers that the package contains only an empty frame. After ransacking Simon's apartment and trashing his car, the gang kidnaps and unsuccessfully tortures him. But he has no memory of where he has hidden the painting. Franck decides to hire a hypnotherapist to try to help him remember.