The audience in Taylor Meade Performing Arts Center was left in a trance on Sept. 7 by the English-born comical hypnotist, Dr. Joanna Cameron, best known by her stage name, the Trance Lady.
This will have been Cameron’s third appearance at Pacific University.
Senior Ryan Newman was left in a deep sleep for the first 10 minutes of the show, under the control of the Trance Lady’s voice, before becoming part of the hypnotized “performers” on stage.
“This has been on my bucket list for a while,” Newman said. “I just felt loose, free, and very open. I just remember looking at my hand, and it was moving on its own, and then I was out. From what I remember, I had fun.”
The show started with putting each person into a deep sleep. With a finger snap, participants were falling to the floor in seconds.
Once under the Cameron’s spell, the performing students were all doing acts to make the audience laugh with them. It started off light, with the Trance Lady inducing them to react to vocal triggers, like the mentioning of the color red causing each of them to burst into laughter.
From their five-year-old selves, she then convinced them that they were living Disney characters from Ariel to Jack Sparrow.
By the time the Trance Lady gave her farewells, both the audience and the performers were wanting more.
“This is my second time seeing the show,” junior Erin Yoshida said. “It was different, but I would say it was as cool as last year. I couldn’t believe the stuff she was making them do. I really would want to try and see what it felt like, but I don’t feel like I would allow it all to come in.”
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