Whirling Dervish

Near the town of Balkh. 1970. A young boy dances himself into a trance. For years the dervishes have been persecuted by the Taliban Religious Police. The Sema dance, the sacred Sufi practice of whirling or meditative turning, has been passed down for over seven hundred years, as has the music, zikr (sacred chanting), poetry, and the etiquette of this tradition.