Sufi whirling is a total “here and now”. UAE: Modern Dubai - Tanura Dance

Sufi dances with a skirt are performed by dervishes, similar dances are called “tanuras”. Through the performance of dance, dervishes approach God. This is a stage performance of Egyptian dance. It is very popular in many Eastern countries.

To dance, they wear long skirts, one on top of the other, a conical headdress, and accompany the dance with drums and flutes. The robe is quite heavy and weighs more than 12 kilograms. The skirts work on the mandala principle. By unwinding them, they increase their impact on the dancer and those around him.

During a performance, the dervishes pass by high-ranking officials, receive secret instructions from them, and then begin to carry them out to the music. You can practice the dance on your own, but you need to spin with your eyes open.

Dervish dance is a temple ritual; to perform the dance, a monk spends three years in a monastery and leads a very strict lifestyle. “Tanur” is a worship service, a rotating parade of planets, filling the Cosmos with Joy.

During Sufi holidays, this action plays a huge role. Dervish dance is actively performed on stage in Turkey, as it has received great artistic appreciation. The dance is based on mystical Sufi philosophy.

The dance must begin with clapping and stomping in order to scare away the shaitan. Before performing the dance, the dervishes bow to each other, putting their hands to their chests, throw off their capes and begin whirling.

The dancers gather around the main dervish, who symbolizes the Sun. One hand of the dervishes is turned upward, and the other downward, a connection between the Cosmos and the Earth occurs.

Dervishes dance, spinning and throwing their heads back for a very long time, while entering a trance. Having entered such a state, the dancer unites with God. This is a family art of dance, passed from father to son in Arab countries. The performer must have good balance, good physical health and endurance.

During the dance, the dervish shows his attitude to life, his emotions, showing it in gestures. If the person dancing is angry, then there will be anger in the dance. If a person experiences love, then love will manifest itself in dance.

The Sema dance is a ritual of worshiping Heaven; it is danced on sacred Islamic holidays. The rotation begins suddenly, with the head slightly turned toward one shoulder. Dancers move their arms and hands and pronounce certain words. Gradually, the dervish is enveloped in an energy shell.

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Today I will show you tanura - a traditional Arabic dance that we watched while having dinner on a dhow boat. Here I want to make it clear right away - they didn’t tell us about him, so I take the certificate from the Internet. Next there will be a lot of photographs, I will rarely add notes to them, because there is nothing to write except “spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning.” Here. But there are even two GIFs waiting for you.

To begin with - historical information taken from the Internet.

Tanura is a dizzying male, Sufi dance with skirts and tambourines of Arab dervishes, during which the performer spins around his axis for several minutes.
The art of dance is passed on from generation to generation, shamanic practices are used, the dance continues by rotating in right side 15-20-30 minutes. (Egypt)

The history of the dance dates back to the 13th century, when Sufis under the leadership of Jalaluddin Rumi, a Persian philosopher and poet, indulged in prayer and asceticism, and came to know God.
The gifted Jalaluddin Rumi found a path that still confuses orthodox theologians - the path of music and dance. The dance of the dervishes was originally a temple ritual, an action for initiates. To be admitted to the sama, the monk spent three years in a monastery, in strict asceticism: the first year he served his neighbors, the second - Allah, and the third he perfected his soul.
Unlike many mystics, Rumi considered it obligatory for every Sufi to fulfill religious precepts. At the same time, he attached exceptional importance to listening to music and singing, as well as dancing during collective celebrations. Rumi believed that earthly music is a reflection of music celestial spheres, expressing the original awe of creation. The sacred dance of the dervishes, which has the character of a real divine service, personifies the dizzying round dance of the planets, filling the cosmos with triumphant joy.
Dance also plays a significant role during the collective celebrations of the Maulawiyya Sufi brotherhood, the founder of which was Rumi. After Rumi's death in 1273, this Sufi order gradually spread throughout the Ottoman Empire, and in some Muslim countries it still exists today. Novices who join this order are isolated from society for a much longer period than in other fraternities. They spend 1001 days in the monastery, that is, about 3 years. They devote the first year to serving their neighbors, the second to serving Allah, and the third to caring for their own soul. The young dervish lives in a community and leads a life of strict abstinence, performing the most difficult work on the orders of his elders.
However, initiation gives him the right to participate under the direction of the sheikh in the cosmic dance ceremony called "sama". Dressed in white robes, symbolizing the funeral shroud, in a high felt headdress, reminiscent of a gravestone, wrapped in long black cloaks, representing the grave, which they throw off at the beginning of the dance as a sign of liberation from the carnal shell for a new birth, the dervishes circle around the dancer in the center of the sheikh is like a planet around the sun. Thus, to the sounds of the flute and drum, the highest union with Allah is realized. Today Rumi is recognized as the greatest mystic of all time. In the East, they believe that anyone who repeats the lines of Rumi's poem "Masnavi" in the mornings and evenings will avoid burning in hellfire, for "Masnavi", according to the poet Jami, is "the Koran in Persian language." Rumi's spiritual heritage is also highly valued in the West. Even Hegel, who was extremely stingy with praise, considered him “brilliant.”

It so happened that the closed ritual turned out to be extremely spectacular, and its artistic value is obvious. The whirlwind created by the whirling dervishes, rhythmic music, hypnotize and captivate the viewer. Contemplating the dance, he receives some news about the world. Therefore, the dance-prayer of the Persian Sufis is now actively performed on stage in Turkey, and every year a dervish festival is held at Rumi’s grave.

No other dance has such a strange costume. Dervishes dance in tall red caps, white long dresses with a very wide skirt, and the black cape is discarded at the beginning of the dance. But here is the meaning of the outfit: the white robe symbolizes the shroud, the hat symbolizes the gravestone, and the cape symbolizes the coffin covers. The dance of the dervishes is a reflection on the world, a drama of death and rebirth; it is not for nothing that the grave covers are thrown off at the very beginning.

The position of the dancers on stage is also significant: they gather in a circle, in the center of which is the main dervish. This is not such a rare arrangement, but in this case it itself symbolizes the Sun and the planets, and in this cosmic dance the dervishes connect the sky and the Earth: for this, one palm of the outstretched hands is turned upward, and the other downward.

In an ecstatic trance state, with their heads thrown back, dervishes can spin for as long as it seems humanly impossible. It’s as if the dance is over, the dervishes fall to their knees. But – the music starts again, and the whirling will continue.
This art is passed down from father to son, i.e. in fact, by inheritance, which means it is a family matter. The little boy has been learning this difficult craft since childhood and repeats his father’s mesmerizing rotations.

Tanura, an Egyptian stage performance of the dervish dance, means "skirt" in Arabic. The performer's costume consists of several heavy skirts, layered one on top of the other. The fabric is dense and heavy, sometimes the weight of the suit reaches 10 kg.

This dance, despite the deceptive ease of execution, is one of the most difficult dances not only in the Arab world, but in the dance world in general. This requires a unique vestibular apparatus, endurance and strong physical strength. All this is necessary because while performing the dance, the performer rotates around himself for 15 minutes, while holding tambourines and other objects in his hands, he performs a colorful folklore show. This is one of the most spectacular performances that can be seen in Egypt in Sharm Al-Sheikh, in the Palace of 1001 Nights.

Information taken from the sites: www.arabicdance.ru, www.art.1001chudo.ru

The dancer really spins very quickly, throwing and twirling first 2 tambourines, then 3, then 4, then 7...

The man on the right realized that he couldn’t take pictures. He didn't try again.

The guy behind me realized that he couldn’t shoot anything with his Canon either. Muahahaha, I can even go to Sonya.

Diamonds put aside - it's time for the ribbon!

Let's increase the level of entertainment - turn on the lights! And the handyman behind me realized that it was better for him to shoot with an iPhone than with a Canon.

By this point, ten to fifteen minutes had already passed, people began to get tired of the constant spinning, although it really looks amazing. The dance ended, the Arab came up with a new entertainment.

“Shall we go?” he says:)

Anyone could try to twirl their skirts - not everyone succeeded, and many could not spin for long - the vestibular region is not so prepared :)

This madam charged everyone not only with her smile, but also with her dancing and in addition to her skirt. Drunk, cheerful, happy!

The young handyman was also given a try)

Everything about this photo is perfect.

And we thought that the charge of positivity would be limited to the plump aunt, but no - now her friend is lighting it up.

New tricks - twisting a skirt with your hand. By the way, yes, for those who are worried - the skirt did break off the “crystal” from the chandelier, it flew right under my feet. They returned it, don’t worry, it’s not the first time for them either.

End of dance and program.

That's why my aunt was drunk and happy - it was her birthday! The whole boat congratulated her from the bottom of our hearts!

Well, she lit up the rest of the evening.

So, well-fed, satisfied and happy, we arrived back at night in Dubai, where we were taken to the hotel to rest before the next excursion - a trip to the oasis city of Al Ain.

Dervish dances from Sufia are known in Egypt as “tanura” dances, which translates from Arabic as “skirts”. Once a year, real dances of Sufi dervishes can be seen in the Turkish city of Konya, where from December 9 to 13, dervishes come to the grave of the founder of the order, Jalaled-din Rumi. The main thing in Rumi's teachings was that through the ritual of dance, you can get a little closer to God.

Dervish dance

The dervishes wear conical hats and flowing white robes. Drums and flutes provide the accompaniment for the selfless spin of the dancers, who alternately raise their right hand (to receive a blessing from heaven) and their left (to convey a blessing to the earth). After several hours of spinning, the dancers enter a trance, and it already seems to them that the whole world revolves around them, and not vice versa. This trance symbolizes final union with Allah.

Dervish clothing

The dance of “tanura” or skirt, if it has such a name in Russian, is not for nothing. Conical hats, white robes flowing freely in different sides, - all this is present, but they are not the main attribute. Several heavy skirts, worn side by side, are the main detail of such a carefully crafted look. It was not in vain that it was said about the heaviness, since the fabric of the skirts is heavy and dense, and if several of them are worn, then the entire suit can weigh about 12 kg.

The Sufi dance of dervishes is popular not only in Turkey and Egypt, but also in many other countries of the East - after all, the cultures are largely similar. When performing in front of the highest-ranking officials of states - sheikhs - the dancers pass by him and receive secret instructions from the sheikh, which they then begin to perform to the beat of drums and the sound of a flute.

WHY SPIN IN ONE PLACE?

Sufi whirling (or spinning) is a meditative technique that involves spinning around one's own axis for a long time (usually from half an hour to several hours).

The technique got its name from the Mevlevi Sufi order, founded by the Persian Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), in which whirling was part of the ritual of worshiping God and symbolized unity with him. Sufis twirled (and still twirl to this day) wearing heavy skirts, which were needed to stabilize the rotation and maintain its high speed.

Among people who practice meditative practices, whirling is unofficially considered the “royal meditation.” Why is this particular meditation singled out among many other techniques?

The fact is that during prolonged rotation around its axis, you can only stand on your feet in a state of “no mind,” a state of meditation, when all the energy in the body is located below, in the stomach and legs. This is the most stable position. If we think, worry, fear, rejoice, that is, if we have thoughts and emotions, what happens is in simple language It's called "dizzy."

When rotating for a long time around its axis, it is possible to stay on your feet only in a state of “out of your mind”

The secret of whirling, or rather stability during whirling, is extremely simple: the energy (or our attention) should be in the stomach and legs. Then we simply will not be able to fall - like the tumbler doll “Vanka-Vstanka”. Any rise in energy in the head, that is, the appearance of thoughts and emotions (and therefore “falling out of meditation”), reduces stability. And if after this you do not lower the energy down, do not return to a meditative state, a fall follows.

When thoughts come to you in static meditation, you can return to it again. When spinning, falling out of meditation ends in a physical fall. In static meditation you can simply sit and think that you are in meditation. While spinning, you cannot “pretend” that you are meditating. One must be in a meditative state of whirling completely and continuously.

There are two meditations where falling out of the process is especially pronounced: walking on coals (if you do it wrong, you get burned) and Sufi spin(if you do it wrong, you fall).

When you meditate (circle) correctly, that is, all your energy is below, top part the body is free for the passage of the flow of cosmic energy. Therefore, the essence of Sufi whirling can be expressed by the formula: we stand firmly on the ground, open our hearts, and let in the energy of the cosmos from above. Hence the rise in strength and the state of absolute peace after meditation.

This technique can be presented as a metaphor for life. While we are spinning, we live; when we fall, life ceases. You can spin with pleasure or with fear that you will fall or lose control of the process. So you can go through life with pleasure or fear. But the good thing about meditation is that it first helps you learn to enjoy the process in a safe space (that is, during meditation), and then transfer it into life.

WHY DO MEN TWIST IN SKIRTS?
I was asked this question by everyone to whom I showed photographs of the circling. I answer. The skirt improves the quality of rotation; you cannot spin in it slowly, as it will fall on your feet. On the other hand, the skirt stabilizes the circling process (like a gyroscope) and prevents it from deviating to the sides. Spinning in a skirt takes experience, but the results are worth it.

WHY SKIRTSALL THE COLORS OF THE RAINBOW?
In Kyiv, the idea of spinning in skirts of all colors of the rainbow (“Chakra Spinning”) was implemented at the Rainbow of Life School of Integral Development. The seven colors of the rainbow correspond to the seven chakras of a person, each of which is responsible for certain qualities. When choosing the color of a skirt, we choose the qualities that we want to develop or work in ourselves. When skirts of all colors of the rainbow swirl, color harmony arises, the energy of all chakras (from lower to higher) is aligned, which is a condition for the harmonious development of a person.

WHAT DOES THIS MEDITATION GIVE?

First of all, whirling is a unique experience of being totally in the “here and now” during the entire meditation time (approximately 45 minutes). Such experience is difficult to obtain in society with all its problems, stresses and crises. As a result of meditation, a state of peace and tranquility comes to the practitioner.

When you do the same movement (rotation) for 45 minutes and at the same time try not to get lost in thoughts or emotions, you are thereby training patience, the habit of not demanding immediate results from life.

Many people are probably familiar with the situation when you start a business and it moves more slowly than you would like. In such a situation, I remember whirling, in which in order to achieve a result (a state of peace and tranquility after meditation), you need to whirl long time, without getting lost in thoughts, repeating certain movements, without thinking about the goal, but also without losing vigilance. Then the result will truly be satisfying.

To be honest, I still feel some fear of spinning. Thoughts “will it work or not?”, “what if I fall?” are still arising. How to let go of this fear? In my experience, the only way out is to trust what is happening to you. When you trust the process, spinning is much more pleasant, instead of fear you get pleasure. Likewise, by trusting life, you can enjoy all its incidents and twists and turns.

Any a difficult situation It’s easier to resolve if you feel your body. As soon as I lose my balance during the rotation, I immediately begin to breathe with my stomach and return my attention to the sensations in my body. This helps calm the thoughts and stability returns. If in difficult life situation remember the sensations in your body, relax it, the situation will seem much simpler.

During meditation, I had moments when it seemed like just a little bit more and I would fall. Then a capitulating thought arose: “Can I fall and not try anymore?” I have learned from my own experience that it is better not to fall. It is better to complete the meditation. You will fall and feel nauseous, and the fall itself is not very pleasant. If you complete the spin, you will receive satisfaction from the result, peace and fulfillment. It’s the same in any undertaking: it is better to bring it to completion by showing will and perseverance than to give in to difficulties.

ABOUT THE CIRCULATION TECHNIQUE
Circling is carried out “clockwise” or “counterclockwise”. The shoulders are straightened, the gaze is not focused on anything.

If you spin counterclockwise, right hand should be directed with the palm up - a flow of energy flows into it from above, left palm lowered down to rest on the flow from below.

When circling clockwise left hand hold with your palm up, your right hand down. The fingers should be closed. If your hands are relaxed, they easily find their place in the flow.

Any meditation releases a lot of energy, so it is important to have a positive intention on where to direct this energy. Before (but not during!) meditation, you can think about some creative goal or write it down on a piece of paper, pin it to your skirt and spin it in a circle. If you do not create a positive intention, the energy will begin to dissipate; if you worry and fear a lot, fears can materialize due to the released power. Meditation (including circling) is a subtle tool that requires a conscious attitude.

For participation in Sufi whirling It is advisable to have experience in other meditative practices that develop a state of “inner silence.” Then the circling will be more efficient.

Now I am putting together a group for classes in this practice in Kyiv!
Outdoors and indoors if there is a group.

I do whirling in nature (for now in ordinary clothes without Sufi skirts), if there is a stable group, it will be possible to rent a room. Join us!

http://rybin-studio.narod.ru
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