History
The Dances of Universal Peace were first formulated in the late 1960s by Samuel L. Lewis (SAM = Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti, 1896–1971) and were then conducted in California. The original dances were strongly influenced by Samuel Lewis' spiritual relationships with Ruth St. Denis, a modern dance pioneer, and Hazrat Inayat Khan, a Sufi master. 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 the major religious and spiritual traditions, including native.
Dances were originally performed at camps and meetings with a distinctly new age and alternative feel but have increasingly come to be offered in diverse places of worship, schools, colleges, prisons, hospices, residential homes for those with special needs, and holistic health centers. The Dances have since developed into a global movement. The Network for the Dances of Universal Peace has members in 28 countries.
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