ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how dance functions as a healing ceremony, as a form of worship, and as a vehicle for personal expression. Practiced in North African Muslim and non-Muslim communities, the zār is a healing rite which aims to cure maladies caused by possession of "zār" spirits, who are placated with music, dancing, and sacrificial feasts. In Turkey, Mevlevi dervishes of the Sufi Islamic order seek divine truth and unite with God through the ritual of sema, a whirling dance that induces a state of religious ecstasy in its performers. Flamenco is not only a cultural treasure of Spain, but is now a global phenomenon. Its long and varied roots tap into the music, song, and dance of Arabs, Jews, Africans, and North Indian Gypsies who coexisted for several centuries in Andalusia, and converged into a Gitano manifestation of protest against fanatical government persecution.
