Raageshwari and Shekar Kapur at Turkish consulate sufi event

Post Event Release: Turkish artist, Ziya Azazi, stuns Mumbai with Dervish In Progress! A unique sufi whirling show!. The Who’s who of Mumbai made their presence felt at a unique dance show hosted by none other than the Consul General of Turkey, Ceylan Ozen Erisen. The man of the evening was surely Mr. Ziya Azazi, a highly acclaimed Turkish Dancer.

Ziya has been performing around the globe for the past 20 years, however, yesterday was his first performance in Mumbai. He truly was worth of the standing ovation that followed his jaw dropping sufi and whirling performance, wherein he kept the audience enthralled for 45 mins with his lithe frame, soulful music, and mind numbing whirls. A fusion of acrobatics, with endless number of whirls, in every possible variation combined with progressive house and traditional sufi music, it was a performance that reflected the inner streght, passion and soul of Ziya Azazi!!

The audience consisted of Kabir Bedi with girlfriend Praveen Dusanj and her sister, Suki Dusanj, Astaad deboo, Kailash and Aarti Surendranath, Indu Shahani, Azeem and Sameena Khan, Shekhar Kapur, Talat and Bina Azis, Sanjay and Zarine Khan, Mohammed and Lucky Morani, Remu and Naaz Jhaveri, Raageshwari, and many more stunned faces!

The performance consisted of two main parts: “Azab” (20 min) and “Dervish in Progress” (25 min) with intermission (15 min). The first part ‘Azab can be perceived as an abstract narration of possible confrontations experienced by certain individuals practicing extreme rituals, with their lives shaped through belief systems, and their presumably both pleasurable and painful journeys.Having reached the information that was searched through the stages of agony (‘Azab), in Dervish in Progress, the portrayed dervish starts enjoying his achievement. At this stage an alternative quality is suggested, that is rather joyful and ecstatic repetition: the fast looping of spinning which lead to trance. As it has been performed over two hundreds times so far, it gives an opportunity not only to the portrayed dervish in the piece but also to me as a dancer to enjoy my humble achievements. The struggle with the skirts and their possible connotations that is represented in ‘Azab, arrives to a spectacular form in Dervish in Progress, showing the joy and the proudness of the achieved capability. The entire work follows a narrative parallelism with the basic philosophy of Sufism. Ziya Azazi has choreographed the project, primarily considering the main principles of the journey of dervishes debated in Sufism.

The Consul General of Turkey, Ceylan Ozen Erisen, was all smiles as all the guests thanked her for giving Mumbai the opportunity to witness such brilliance! All in all, a great night that was the perfect way to start the new year!!