We had the pleasure of seeing a stunning Whirling Dervish performance during a desert safari a few days back. The whirling dervish, performing the traditional Egyptian folk dance Tannoura is something you wouldn’t want to miss. It is spectacular and will leave you in awe.

He started slowly turning along with the soft music:

The performer “turns” or whirls endlessly while manipulating skirts in a colorful display.

The dancer continues to turn round and round faster this time, keeping up with the faster music beat. Amazingly, he did not stray far from his original position meaning, he didn’t feel any dizziness or disorientation.

Ten, 15 minutes passed and the music refused to die down. The dancer is still alive, ecstatic and obviously NOT dizzy at all! Then the lights were turned off and we wondered why.

The lights on his colorful skirt lit up, creating an illusion of human kaleidoscope! Pristine thought it was a UFO.

The whole show, which lasted for TWENTY MINUTES  was magnificent from start to finish and left me breathless. Then the whirling dervish asked for volunteers. He was heavily sweating but still very articulate, smiling and looked very normal.

My friend Rose bravely took on the challenge, put on the colorful skirt with the help of the dervish, gave a big smiled and took off. She turned and turned and stopped after less than 10 SECONDS.

Everyone who took on the challenge did not last long and had to grab hold of the dervish so they might not fall down.  How can he stay sane in TWENTY long minutes!? I can only imagine the concentration and training required.

Try turning round and round. How long can you go without getting dizzy?

Note: There are several travel operators providing desert safaris but they don’t offer the same type of entertainment at the camps. Ask your travel operator if the desert safari includes the Tannoura dance before making your reservation if you want to see this spectacular show.