Tanoura dance is the Egyptian theatrical version of the Whirling Dervish.
The Tanura dancer spins for a long time and do some tricks with his skirt
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. Their various roundabouts symbolize the succession of the four seasons and their anti-clockwise movement is exactly like the movement around the "Kaaba" (the holy Shrine in Mecca).
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.
This is a nice abstract, made even nicer by your wonderful explanation and history. I wish more photographers on Usefilm would provide this kind of background on their imagery. :)
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{K:80636} 2/6/2008
