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Originally Posted by Ariella
Is dance at all involved in the religion of buddhism? Not bellydance, but some sort of religious dance?
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Yes, at least in Tibetan Buddhism. There are the so called "Lama Dances", where Buddhist monks perform different sacral dances in the courtyard of the temples at certain religious feasts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariella
Are religions that have dance integrated into them more tolerant of other types of dance?
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In my opinion yes. I'm talking about the concept of religion, not about individuals who belong to a certain religion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariella
Off the top of my head I can think of the whirling dervishes of the sufi sect of islam. What do sufis think of bellydance?
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The Sufis that I know don't have any problem with belly dance. I used to work with a Turkish band in the past whose musicians were Sufis and they had neither a problem to play "worldly" music for weddings etc. nor a problem to play for a belly dancer (me). But one must consider that Sufis are very different from the main stream Islam and they are not so well accepted by the other Muslims. There were times when they were persecuted and were forbidden to practice their belief (and I think in some Islamic countries they are still quite oppressed).