Published 2004-02-11T00:00:00Z”/>

Staff WriterMatt Shotland

With the classic hypnotic words “You are getting sleepy,” Dave Hill, “The World ‘s Greatest Hypnotist” turned 20 eager volunteers into the main attraction Friday night in the Bell Memorial Union.

“I promise no one will be embarrassed,” Hill told his volunteers, who had no idea what was in store for them.

Within a few minutes, his combination of peaceful music, light breathing exercises and relaxing, monotone voice had each volunteer succumb to his sleeping spell.

“Your body will become limp and loose like it was made from a handful of loose rubber bands,” he said over and over.

Heads slowly nodded back and forth, and bodies began to fall limp on top of each other. One volunteer almost fell off the stage, only to be redirected toward the person sitting next to her.

A certified hypnotist by the National Hypnotism Training Institute, Hill is also a certified advanced hypnotherapist by the National Guild of Hypnotists.

When he is not traveling the world with his comedic hypnosis show, he teaches at The Success Coach School of Hypnosis, which he founded.

Hill started his act by including every volunteer in the same situation. They were told that they were seeing a comedy in a movie theater, and they were soon bursting with laughter until his abrupt “Sleep” command silenced them instantly. Together, the volunteers were riding roller coasters and searching for their lost “rear ends.”

“My rear end, it ‘s gone. I can ‘t find it,” one volunteer frantically cried as she looked everywhere for her bum.

Throughout the show, a volunteer would occasionally snap out of the trance only to fall back asleep seconds later.

The demonstration with the entire group came to a comical climax when Hill took out a voodoo doll and the lyrics “Day-o! Day-o!” hit the speakers.

Like the classic “Beetlejuice” scene, the volunteers began dancing uncontrollably to the song, performing every movement precisely the way Hill moved his voodoo doll.

The focus was soon shifted to individual volunteers, who did whatever Hill asked them to do.

Dancing became a theme Hill liked to go with as he began by giving one volunteer the impression that he was slow dancing with Pamela Anderson. The blond bombshell was merely the foot-tall voodoo doll, but he kept dancing, seductively no less, to the song “Unchained Melody.”

“Turn to the audience &now rub her butt,” Hill said with a smile. The audience roared with approval. “This is the Jerry Springer part of the show.”

Two male volunteers were soon slow dancing together in a loving embrace, until the snap of Hill ‘s fingers made them realize their compromising situation and separate like oil and water.

All of the male volunteers were soon involved in a dance number when they were instructed to pick a lady in the audience and do the tango.

Hill then told Chico State junior Bridget Hand that she was Britney Spears and needs to perform for her fans. With her twists and shakes, Hand looked like she had been performing “Baby One More Time” for years.

Her response after the show was a little different.

“I don ‘t remember performing, but I wish I did,” she said. “My fans seemed to enjoy it, which means I was really good or really bad.”

One of Hill ‘s final acts had the audience reeling in disbelief.

After instructing two un-hypnotized audience members, a volunteer was laid across two chairs, one chair holding up his legs, the other his head. Nothing held up the rest of his body. One of the audience members then stepped on his chest. He didn ‘t move a muscle, staying as stiff as a board.

With that final display of Hill ‘s controlling power, skeptics of hypnosis might have had a change of heart.

“You will wake up as if emerging from an eight-hour sleep,” Hill said as he slowly brought his volunteers out of their trance.

Before their full emergence into consciousness, Hill gave them some words of advice to take with them.

He told them to visualize something they want to achieve, a goal, and strive to accomplish it.

They awoke with a yawn, and with a look of confusion and dismay, exited the stage.

“The World ‘s Greatest Hypnotist” was given a standing ovation.

<em>Matt Shotland can be reached at <a href= ‘mailto:[email protected]’>[email protected]</a></em>