Richard And Jo Demeester's photos with the keyword: whirling

The spinning is slower than you might at first imagine; after all, they are religious adherents, not choreographed dancers. Still, the skirts spun out and filled the floor as a couple of dozen dervishes, each only aware of their own space and motion, together formed a single constellation of revolving bodies. Given the number of spins they make, I was surprised they did not collapse in dizzy heaps.

Mevlevi, a form of Islam, where the spinning is a ritual symbolising union with God. Different postures taken up during the whirling represent different aspects of their journey, such as receiving blessings and communicating them to earth. These are the Whirling Dervishes.