WHIRLING DERVISH   ( Thumbnail View • Enlarged View )

	click images below for alternate view     WHIRLING DERVISH-1 nihal kececi ORIGINAL ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 24"X30" For the whirling dervishes of Konya, Turkey, ecstasy derives from discipline. They performed a sema, the Sufi ritual of spiritual rebirth, before a sold-out house on Friday night at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It was a spectacle: six men dressed in white with tall camel-hair hats, with arms outstretched and long skirts twirling, accompanied by music that slowly gathered momentum, from stately extended melodies to more vigorous, more rhythmic tunes. The white costumes represent death shrouds; the hats, tombstones. In the mystical Islam that was taught by Jalal ad-Din Rumi, sometimes known as Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), the spinning dancers are a link between earthly existence and rapturous divine love. There was no chaos, no abandon in their ecstasy. As they whirled, the dervishes proceeded in a circle around the stage, comparable to orbiting planets, while their dancing master strolled among them. They never lost direction, collided or showed dizziness when they stopped for ceremonial bows. Yet unlike twirling ballet dancers, they moved their heads along with their bodies Item Price  ORIGINAL n/a  sold
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