The zar is a religious ritual used in North Africa and the Middle East where music and trance dancing is used to appease an unhappy spirit or genie.

It is often associated with a slow ayyub rhythm among others. This has been taken by some folkloric dance troupes in Egypt and has been presented as a theatrical dance. Nadia Jamal, the famous Lebanese dancer, was one of the first to famously integrate dance references to the zaar ritual in her Oriental routine. Shoo Shoo Amin has also put a zaar ritual into her Oriental routine.

Since this ritual has religious significance, great care should be taken when selecting music and deciding how to present this. If you are performing a theatrical version of the zaar, you will want to modify the steps appropriately and avoid going into trance. Actually going into a trance like state leaves the dancer very vulnerable and unsafe. In the true zar the individual going into trance always has a guide to protect and watch out for her. You will sometimes get a reference to zar in an Oriental piece or drum solo. Warda’s Hobek Salehny is one good example. In this situation doing a couple of steps to reference the zar and then return to dancing in a more Oriental style is appropriate. It is always wise to let the music tell you what to do. There are some wonderful articles out there for learning more about the zar:
The Zar – by Yasmin
Mazaher – by Manal el-Jesri
The Zar Ceremony – by Heba Fatteen Bizzari
The Zar Revisited – by Me’ira
Zar – PRI (radio story)
I also highly recommend purchasing the Yasmin’s Zar CD – the liner notes are amazing

Shems’s Zar YouTube Playlist