(1896 – 1971)
From the beginning of time, sacred movement, song and story have brought people together at time of seasonal ceremony and celebration, as part of everyday life and during life passages, in daily renewal and meditation. The Dances of Universal Peace are part of this timeless tradition of sacred dances. They are a form of celebration and meditation in song and movement, the sacred phrase being an important element of each Dance.
(1882 – 1927)
The Dances of Universal Peace were originally created in the late 1960's by Samuel Lewis, who studied many of the world's spiritual traditions: Zen and Hindu, Christian and Kabballah. His Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan, who first brought Sufism to the West, inspired the Dances. Following Hazrat Inayat Khan and the "Unity of Religious Ideals" – that the truth at the heart of all religious is the same truth - Samuel Lewis envisaged a dance form, which would embody this ideal, one that would allow people to directly experience for themselves such states as joy, peace, harmony and unity.
He saw the Dances as a form of "peace through the arts", a way of shearing the blessings of peace throughout the world and within each individual. He was also greatly concerned with the environment and global understanding.
And the world changes life by life.
All over the earth people long for an actual experience of
reverence for the earth and life in all its forms. The Dances show how."
Neil Douglas-Klotz
No previous experience is necessary, all are welcome!