But the island's one-of-a-kind culture is kept alive with activities and festivals that highlight ancient arts such as spear throwing, tobogganing, dancing and body painting.

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"I don't call myself a dancer, but I think this sort of dancing suits my body very well, " says Miller.

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The nature and location of the performances can elicit any number of responses ranging from those who find it to be glamourous (think burlesque and strip tease) to those who find it to be offensive (think full body nude dancing).

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Baba Sa'eed, who has been dancing with his arms and his upper body as he sits by the altar, goes rigid and begins speaking in what he later says was an African dialect, punctuated by phrases in broken Arabic.

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She thinks that dancing is often the best way for our body to expression what we really mean.

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Her dancing and choreography experience in the 1980s for stars like Cyndi Lauper put her body under a microscope and in competition with many thin peers.

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One Hong Kong deejay reports spotting a group of young women at a bar in Shanghai dancing, giggling and waving their arms exultantly in the air -- the universal body language of an Ecstasy trip.

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