Western Europe – wishing to reject the trance, seen as a state that threatened the domination of reason, the clerical institution of the Roman Catholic Churches and the control of bodies by the Authorities – desacralized dances.
However, certain sacred dances exist or have survived (sometimes disguised) in some Christian orthodox countries as well as in Islam and Judaism, which, despite reluctance, tolerate certain practices of dance mysticism.
We can mention the “Anastenaria” ritual danced for the feast of St Constantine/St Helena in Northern Greece and Bulgaria.
In various Muslim countries we have Sufi rituals, in the Maghreb , in Balkans (Albania, former Yugoslavia and Romania) and particularly in the Middle East (Turkey, Syria, Iran) the famous dance of the whirling dervishes.
In Judaism the very exuberant Hassidic dances, popularized by the film “The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob” with Louis de Funès