TEHRAN -- A group of Iranian women plan to perform sama, a Sufi ecstatic dance, during a concert in Tehran.

The sama performance will be a part of the concert, which will be held by the all-female Iranian band Ava-ye Mehrabani at the Vahdat Hall on July 16, band singer and director Soheila Purgerami said in a press release on Sunday.
A total of 35 daf players will accompany the sama performers including Saba Zameni, Niknaz Mirqalami, and Bita Afshar.
Ava-ye Mehrabani is also scheduled to perform selections of Khorasani folk music from Iran’s northeastern region in their repertoire.
This is the first time Iranian women have officially been allowed to perform the sama.
A sama performance was staged during the opening ceremony of an international congress commemorating the 800th birthday of the Persian mystic poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi in Tehran in October 2007.
Organizers of the congress were criticized for staging the performance, which had been done by men.
A number of Turkish dervishes from Konya also performed the sama during concerts held by the Iranian band Shams in Tehran in August 2007.