Dances of Universal Peace

A wide range of languages are deliberately employed including Arabic, Aramaic, English, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Persian, and Sanskrit.

[3] Dance promoters use diverse religious practices, chants and languages to demonstrate how joy lives at the heart of every religion.

[6] The Dances of Universal Peace were first formulated by Samuel L. Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti).

The influence on the dances of Sufi practices such as Sema and The Whirling Dervishes are apparent, although Samuel Lewis was also a Rinzai Zen master and drew on the teachings of various religious and spiritual traditions.

[3] Dances were originally performed at camps and meetings with a distinctly New Age and alternative feel but have increasingly been offered in diverse places of worship and more secular places such as schools, colleges, prisons, hospices, residential homes for those with special needs, and holistic health centers.

A 'Dances of Universal Peace ' session with the dance teacher and accompanying musicians in the centre and the dancers of all ages and abilities in circles around them.