These two pictures highlight two very different types of movement. At the top are the “whirling dervishes” of the Mevlâna Egitim ve Kültür Dernegi in Istanbul. From their ceremony booklet:
Contemporary science definitely confirms that the fundamental condition of our existence is to revolve. There is no object, no being which does not revolve and the shared similarity among beings is the revolution of the electrons and protons in the atoms, which constitute the structure of the smallest particle to the stars far in the sky. As a consquence of this similarity, everything revolves and man carries on his life, his very existence by means of the revolution in the atoms, structural elements in his body, by the circulation in his blood, by his coming from the Earth and return to it, by his revolving with the Earth itself.
In the second picture, Kurds from northern Iraq join a line dance in celebration of Newroz, the New Year. This dance also revolves, slowly in a wide circle. The Kurds are gathered at a popular picnic spot near Suleimaniya called Sitaq, which before 1991 was an Iraqi military base. Theirs is a conservative culture—when my colleague and I interviewed these families, the men gathered around to talk while the women looked on. Only the men shook our hands. Still, everyone danced together, arms interlocked. Everywhere we went that day, the women wore sequined outfits in brilliant colors.
Comments are closed.