Searching for the Divine Dance in Andalusia...

I am currently taking an online course on Andalusia: Jewish, Christian, Muslim Dialogue with Dr. Ibrahim Farajaje at GTU’s SKSM, a Unitarian Universalist school. One of the assignments is to blog about the course materials, my reactions, and how I can use a hermeneutic of Andalusia in a particular area of focus. As this is my first time taking an online course, and blogging is still fairly new for me, I begin with slight reservation due to the fear that I am doing it all incorrectly…

So, with that said, I believe I shall identify my area of focus. Broadly speaking, my focus is “sacred” dance as a form of interreligious dialogue. The more I research, the more this will narrow. As I have written and researched substantially regarding dance as a form of interreligious dialogue between these three monotheistic religions, I shall attempt to focus on the dances that are and were present in Andalusia, Spain.

When first thinking of these religious traditions, I assume that Jewish circle dance and forms of “liturgical” (for lack of a better word in this instance) Christian dance were present, potentially accompanied with Muslim whirling and “belly” dance. These are merely hypotheses as I begin. I am certain that flamenco was present to some extent and the sacred components of this dance form (if there are any) are what I am in the beginning phases of exploring.

Interestingly, Iris Stewart highlights flamenco as an “other belly dance tradition”[1] after she details the sacred goddess origins of the “belly dance,” paying careful attention to the role of the womb and birthing process in connection with this dance form. Stewart notes that flamenco incorporates some of the serpentine arm patterns and hip rotations seen in various versions of belly dance. She explains that this stems from a variety of sources, including Hindu Romany, who settled in the caves of Sacromonte and mixed with the Mozarab, a community of Arab/Berber Moores, Jews, and Iberians in the 8^th-9^th centuries CE. They brought these dance combinations, mixed with Arabic melodic themes, to ANDALUSIA, incorporating many traditional characteristics of Spanish dancing. Further, the Houara tribe in Morocco perform a dance today that is rumored to be the mother of flamenco.

These are merely the beginnings of insights and meager research. However, I find it fascinating that a brief section of a chapter on what Stewart titles “womandance” (commonly known as belly dance) manages to quantify so many complexities addressed in the many readings regarding Moores, Arabs, Berbers, Jews, and Morocco. Again, it is reiterated that there is not a monolithic approach to history—be that history of a geographical location, group of people, religious group/s, or even a dance form. Each are far more interconnected and complex than they appear on the surface.

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[1] Iris Stewart, Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance (Rochester: Inner Traditions, 2000), 90. All subsequent references in this blog stem from Stewart’s work.