This is a spiritual practice that brings us in touch with our sacred selves in an environment that allows us to honor the sacredness in each other.  These are really more walking meditations done in a circle, exchanging symbolic gestures(like blessing each other's aura, whispering a blessing in each other's ear, playing an invisible instrument, reaching our hands up to honor the moon, putting our hand on each others heart) --which celebrate each other, while singing or chanting, though many of us dance instead of walk.  The core of these dances come from the Sufi mysteries which were brought here by a Sufi master(& rebel) who wanted to make these magickal practices which were only available to the initiated, available & accessible to everyone, & so he came to the U.S. & did.  The dances evolved to be created from spiritual traditions all over the world & throughout history.   Village cultures renewed their sense of connection and place in the Cosmos through ritual celebrations. The Dances of Universal Peace revive this human tradition with a new awareness of the Earth as our global village, and with peace as the acknowledged root desire of all her peoples.  The simple acts of joining hands, lifting our voices in thanksgiving, looking deeply into the eyes of other dancers and moving our bodies in the rhythms of the music, create an ease of belonging to a greater community. 

This practice is known by different names:  Dances Of Universal Peace, also called Sufi Dancing & Sacred Circle Dancing.  The walking meditation/dancing is done to live acoustic musicians.  This is one of my favorite practices.

~*This gathering, & the center that hosts it, is for people with a completely positive, benign, life-affirming path.*~