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South American dances resemble those of Mesoamerica. Native dance rituals have their last strongholds in the jungles and highlands of the interior. Iberian dance-dramas show their relationship with those of Mesoamerica. Couple dances are prominent. In Venezuela several tribes of the Orinoco River held masked puberty rites. For example, among the Maipure and Baniva tribes, Mauari, the spirit of evil, is impersonated by a dancer who is fully covered with red and black body paint, a face-covering of puma or jaguar pelt, and a crown of deer antlers. At the initiation of a youth or girl, he emerges from the ...(100 of 6197 words)