Dances of Universal Peace uses dance as a way of balancing and fostering peace. Dance can communicate all of human emotions and result in transcendental states. The Dances of Universal Peace are Sacred Dances that do not need any musical or dancing experience. The sessions are all about taking part and aren’t a functionality. There aren’t any distinctive costumes. Comfortable clothes are the sole requirement. The setting for the dances ought to have a calm, sacred atmosphere.
A session starts by everybody linking hands and forming a circle with all the Dance Leader and musicians at the center. The Leader then educates that the voice, music and moves. The history connected with this specific dance is clarified.
There are over 400 Dances of Universal Peace attracted from a number of faiths and customs. They concentrate on topics like Peace in all of its contexts, recovery of the planet, it is peoples, its fauna and flora and at the deeper mysteries.This addition of their beliefs of many religions and people generates an opening of the center and also a sense of their brotherhood and sisterhood of all individuals. Performing the dances assist the participants to understand and appreciate the similarities and differences of different cultures and religions.
On the occasions once the dancing lyrics incorporate sacred phrases in languages not spoken with the participants that the pronunciation of these words is quite closely educated. Nearly all dances are just four lines and are repeated over and over again. The combination of those variables is that the participants understand the tunes efficiently. Within ten minutes everybody is singing, dance and sharing the superb power of their dances.
The Dances of Universal Peace were collated from the late 1960’s by Samuel L. Lewis (1896-1971) a Sufi teacher and Zen Master. He studied in fantastic depth the mysterious traditions of Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. Hazrat Inayat Khan and Ruth St. Denis were significant influences in his thinking. From the 70’s Lewis Started to make the dances as a Means of boosting”Peace through the Arts”.The dances celebrate Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam in Addition to the Aramaic, Native American, Native Middle Eastern, Celtic, Native African, and Goddess traditions.
The dances are categorized under headings such as “Dervish Dances.” Dervish Cycle and Allah Snake Dance are illustrations from this group.There are also”Mantric Dances” for example Hare Rama Hare Krishna Dance and Ram Sita Circle Dance, and”Angelic” dances like Moon Dances and”Tis the Gift to be Simple” that will be a well known Shaker song.
The dances encircle many moods – love, compassion and joy – as exemplified by the Buddha Qwan Yin,or the extrovert power of Krishna is expressed at the dancing. People undergo a lively relationship between the team, the people within the group as well as themselves.
Penny Xerri provides an account of”Sharing the Dances with Special Needs Pupils” .She writes”Among the joys of coping with Special Needs students is that the immediacy of the response; if enthusiastic they might leap up and down; when exhausted sit ; if happy with themselves they frequently wish to admit with a round applause.Perhaps there’s a lesson in Zen here. Another delight for me is his or her willingness to experiment, both with movement and sound, however deep their disabilities. (One of our pupils has practically no sight, yet another has language that’s virtually unintelligible along with most may exhibit obsessive behavior patterns, like repetitive speech and moves, if at all any way mad.)
Responding to the pupils’ requirements and issues from the dances requires the”able-bodied” provide an assortment of support and improvised adaptations. I’m fortunate in being encouraged not just by an accompanist, Ian Salmond, but also by Bill Thompson, a volunteer coach. These two offer a strong male presence and constructive comments. Moreover, the faculty where I work supplies”carers” for its pupils. All these carers provide not just pupil support but exhibit substantial excitement and dedication to the fullest.
This degree of service makes it possible to deliver the gist of the dances, whilst being quite pragmatic using adaptations. These vary from simplifying measures, like substituting a simple walk for sidesteps, to such as brief periods of sitting whilst vocally rehearsing the recognizable dances, or learning new ones, as our pupils have a tendency to tire more rapidly than their counterparts that are jazzy. On a concrete level, we occasionally support the palms of pupils, whilst embracing gestures or making ends, constantly being mindful to not”invade”. Challenges we’re still working with include maintaining the momentum of this dance (there’s a trend for those pupils to return to a stop after every”around”) and also to maintain the silence on conclusion of every dance past several minutes.”