Friday 29 October 2010

Turkish Mosaic circuit. Day 6 (Folkloric night)

9th of October 2010
Sarihan Caravensarai folkloric night

The performing stage of the Sarihan Caravensarai was in the shape of a round arena with quite a few corridors disposed as if they were small auditorium like  dining rooms. There were tables on each side of those corridors, on which several drinks, as well as fresh and dried fruit had been placed. The atmosphere, which had been getting gradually livelier, changed its course and gave way to an impenatrable silence, as they announced the Dervish  performance was about to start and that no photo taking was allowed until the performing act had finished.










In the light of what the word Dervish means "A member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, some of which perform whirling dances and acts of ecstatic devotion", it may be understandable.

What we  actually watched, was  a worship ceremony performance (Sema) through which they are expected to  reach the source of perfection by abandoning their egos or personal desires  focusing on God and spinning their bodies in repetitive circles, which correspond to the symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar system orbiting the sun. In the symbolism of the Sema ritual, their camel's hair hat (sikke) represents the tombstone of the ego and the white skirt the ego's shroud and the fact that their arms are open and direct to the sky during the second part of the whirling implies they are ready to receive God's light.



                              

I was impressed by the circling movement. Irrespective of having read that the rotation itself is on the left feet and the impetus for the rotation provided by the right feet, I was still impressed, particularly because some of the dancers reached quite an amazing speed and the moment they stopped, it was as if they had not been spinning at all ...
Whether it is transe or a mastery of the spinning itself ... I honestly don't know ... but it was worth watching,  namely because of its uniqueness.










Several folk dances were to follow, which brought with them a sense of joy and colourfulness to the performing room. A few Spaniards sitting next to us started behaving in a rather indelicate way, (I believe influenced by the alcohol), but their loud talking and singing, which had partly interfered with the playing of a traditional instrument similar to the  Oud was to soon stop ... the moment a female Dervish walked onto the stage.

She filled the whole room with beauty, a unique graciousness of movements, theatrical expression, dazzling and almost dizzying spinning capability ...
I  simply can't describe her as a dancer nor can I do her justice in words ... because what we witnessed in the area of dancing performance was the highest point of the night and  this young lady was (is) among the best dancers  I have had the privilege to watch dancing.
She later came back to perform a belly dance, in which she was once again majestic ... but it was the Dervish dancing performance of hers that really filled my eyes and "soul".












It was around midnight by the time we left the Caravensarai ... but I was extremely glad to have paid the extra 25 Euros, so as to "witness" all of  this  ..



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

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