Sufi music, dance hypnotizing
By Nicole Kauffman, Hoosier Times
September 19, 2004

BLOOMINGTON

Long before 7 p.m. on Saturday, people filed into lines outside Lotus World Music & Arts Festival venues, eager for concerts to begin.

At the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre, a line trailed all the way around the corner past the Trojan Horse and a good way down Walnut Street.

The Sufi Music Foundation soon took the stage in the theater and hypnotized the full house with its nine-piece band.

Flute, strings and percussion accompanied vocals that sounded at times like a chorus in a musical and at times like spiritual chanting.

After a half-hour of music, the musicians took a bow, and the theater's heavy red curtains closed. But soon they returned, donning black robes. With them were five dancers, better known as the Whirling Dervishes.

The Whirling Dervishes performed a seven-centuries-old ritual that symbolizes the loving ­ or embracing, as signified by the men's open arms ­ of all humanity and life.

They twirled and twirled, their long, white skirts spinning, for 30 minutes straight. The movements were perfectly balanced, and the dancers kept their eyes closed and their feet in constant motion.

The men spun quickly, while slowly trading spaces with each other. The image created for the audience was a moving spectacle of color; each man stood under stage lights that were bright green, red, purple, yellow and white.

The ceremonial dance, inspired by the Sufi poet Rumi, represents a spiritual journey toward truth and away from ego. It started in the 1200s and has been influenced by Turkish customs.

The appearance of the Sufi Music Foundation and the Whirling Dervishes was presented with the help of the Bloomington Muslim Dialog Group, which promotes better understanding of all faiths and cultures.