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Al Tannura Dance 2, originally uploaded by ramesh_lalwani.

Tannura Dance
This Sufi- type of the Tannura Dance(Al Daraweesh) has a very special characteristic as it relies on the dancer’s unlimited moves in circles. This rounded move is a reflection of a special philosophical concept in the Islam Sufi rituals known as the Mulawia sect. Believers of this concept see the universe stems from the same point of rotation. As the universe starts and ends from the same point, the senior dancer (Lafife) who represents the sun, will always start and end his movement from that point. While the junior dancers (Hanatia), representing the stars, move around him. They all move counterclockwise, in a concurrent circles echoing the four seasons and very much like the pilgrims’ movement around Kaba (The Muslims’ holy shrine). Once the senior dancer stretches his right hand upward while the pointing down with his left hand, he would be establishing the connection between the earth and the sky. Moving in circles, the dancer is very much like alleviating his wordily burdens, reaching ecstasy in a symbolical attempt to approach heaven. Once he unties the belt around his waist, the dancer would be rhetorically moving upward to heaven…