This is a recording of the whirling dervishes performing the mystical Sufi ceremony known as a sema, in Istanbul.

As an order, the whirling Dervishes were founded by mystic poet Rumi in the 13th century.

A dervish practices multiple rituals, the primary of which is the dhikr, involving recitation of devotional Islamic prayer, coupled with physical exertions of movement, specifically dancing and whirling, in order to reach a state assumed by outsiders to be one of "ecstatic trances".

A defining feature of whirling is continuous rotation (clockwise or counterclockwise) around a central radical axis while avoiding vertigo. In untrained dancers, this sustained rotation causes dizziness or motioninduced vertigo. To counteract this effect, whirling dance performers practice various balancing and psychological techniques.