Divine Dance (el-Tanoura)

Dance communicates man’s deepest, highest and most truly spiritual thoughts and emotions far better than words, spoken or written.(Ted Shawn)

The idea of a man twirling around in a skirt may not sound like an entertaining idea to some, but when speaking of the Egyptian folkloric tanoura dancers, you might want to reconsider. The folkloric Tanoura dance originates from a Sufi form of Zikr, commonly translated as “remembrance” or “invocation” of God, and also known as the Whirling Dervish, By a Persian poet, and Sufi mystic known as Rumi.

It is said that Rumi was walking through the town one day when he heard the rhythmic hammering of goldbeaters accompanied the religious phrase of “La Elaha Ella Allah” (There is none worthy of worship but Allah). He was mesmerized by what he heard and he stretched out both of his arms and started spinning in a circle. With that incident, the whirling dervish practice was born.

Tu hai mujh mein samaaya kahaan leke mujhe aaya
Main hoon tujh mein samaaya
Tere peechhe chala aaya
Tera hi main ik saaya
Tune mujhko banaya
Main tou jag ko naa bhaya
Tune gale se lagaya
Haq tu hi hai khudaya
Sach tu hi hai khudaya

Tanoura: Mesmerizing whirling

The philosophical basis for the spinning is from the Mawlawis who say that the movement in the world begins at a certain point and end at the same point, therefore the movement has to be circular. When the tanoura dancer moves himself, he is like the sun and the dancers around him like the planets.  The dancer unties and removes four different skirts during the finale. Stripping layers of their clothes as they spin represents the different stages of ridding themselves from earthly needs and reaching a state of spiritual surrender to God. Their various roundabouts symbolize the succession of the four seasons. When the dancer raises his right arm up and points his left arm down, this represents the joining of earth and heaven together.  When he turns himself around, it is said that he enters a trance-like state, trying to become light and go up to heaven.

Evolution

Evolving from a religious practice to a form of mesmerizing entertainment, Egyptian folkloric tanoura dancers dazzle us today as they rhythmically spin in their multi-colored skirts. As they spin, audiences’ glimpse the most bizarre shapes and colors, all derived from the geometrical patterns and bright colors on their attire. The skirts worn by the dancers have evolved even further as they are now sometimes embedded with tubes of light that sequentially turn on and off as the dancers spin.

If you have never seen a live tanoura dance performance, you simply must. It is a wondrous event to witness as the dancer’s mesmerize you. No matter how detailed a description you get from anyone who has seen one, the experience is a completely different matter.

http://vimeo.com/44260209