Join us to celebrate our fellowship in love and spirit with whirling dance (Sema), meditation, music, prayers, and poetry. Sheb-i Arus commemorates the death and thereby union between the Persian mystical poet Khodavandeghtar Jalaludin Mohammad Balkhi (Rumi) and the universe.
Our ceremony will be shared multi-nationally online with Master Seyed Salman Hosseini, Master Farima Berenji, and with live music by Dr. Lloyd Miller, Nariman Assadi, and Evan Phillips.
There will be sacred and mystical Sufi poetry (Farsi and English), meditation, whirling with live Sufi music, and Yarsani zikr. Please join masters and dervishes of the Yarsani and Mevlevi Sufi order for this sacred commemoration.
We will whirl and journey together to celebrate love, unity, and allow the light to enter our soul. Open your heart! Listen! Turn, dance, and move in anyway that makes you feel alive!
$10-15 sliding scale donation. Your donation is greatly appreciated.
Our gathering is not a performance. Come and join our sacred circle. Everyone is welcome to practice and/or observe.
Register
Guidelines and Tips
- We kindly ask for no interruptions during the ceremony. We will mute all participants during the ceremony then unmute for open participation.
- If you are whirling from home prepare to wear comfortable clothing, whirling skirt (optional), socks or soft-soled shoes. Avoid eating a large meal 2 hours prior.
Farima Berenji
Farima Berenji
Farima Berenji is an award winning, internationally acclaimed performing artist, instructor, choreographer, and dance ethnologist. A master instructor and performer in Persian and Sufi dance, she specializes in ancient, sacred, classical, and folkloric dances of Persia and Central Asia. She is honored to be the first Iranian woman to direct a Persian dance company to perform during receptions for President Obama and President Biden. Farima is the founder and artistic director of the Simorgh Dance Collective, founder of Dance of the Soul, she is the advisory council member of Mosaic America, a member of the International Dance Council (CID-UNESCO), Eastern Arts, National Folk Organization, and the first Iranian-American woman TEDx lecturer and performer in the field of dance. Recognized as one of the few world scholarly experts of ancient and mystical dance ethnology, she travels worldwide to record, research, lecture, perform, educate, and to inspire dynamic creativity and rejuvenation through dance and movement.
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Seyed Salman Hosseini
Seyed Salman
Seyed Salman Hosseini possesses a bachelor degree in music ethnology and is an Iranian traditional music researcher, composer and a master musician of tambour, setar, tar, and rebab. He directs the traditional Persian music ensemble Cherikeh which has been performing sacred and traditional music for many years. Seyed has produced many albums including Javdanegni and Tabeh Ghaleh. He is the music director and composer for films such as Song of God and Gadam Yar. Seyed has composed and performed more than 40 concerts and TV programs including composing music for national broadcasts of Iran. He has performed professionally in Iran, Germany, Syria, and the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Additionally, he is a Sufi master and has his own school of music and mysticism.
Nariman Assadi
Nariman Assadi
Nariman Assadi was born in Hamedan, Iran on January 1, 1992. Raised in Tehran, he always felt drawn to percussion instruments. At the age of thirteen, he began studying tombak under Master Amir Mogharab Samadi. From 2008 to 2013, Nariman performed at Vahdat Hall as a soloist and with the Persian Percussion Ensemble at Pars Academy, the premier music academy for children. After mastering tombak, he then began learning Daf under the great Master Bijan Kamkar. With a strong understanding of the daf and tombak, Nariman started learning barbat (Oud) under Master Mohammad Firouzi.
In 2015, Nariman immigrated to the United States. He immediately began his professional music career by performing and attending festivals. In 2017, he started learning percussion performance and world music with Professor Daniel Kennedy at Sacramento State University. Along with being a member of various ensembles, Nariman teaches daf, tombak, other percussions, and music for children in Davis, Sacramento, and the Bay Area. He also offers music classes and workshops online. Read more..
Dr. Lloyd Miller
Dr. Lloyd Miller
Dr. Lloyd Miller received his PhD in Persian Language and Literature from the University of Utah after spending seven years living in Iran where he had a weekly prime time television program titled “Kurosh Ali Khan va dastan”. His program featured musicians and other artists from around the world. Lloyd was urged to leave Iran during the revolution in the late 70s, though he had never planned to leave. An expert in world music including American jazz, Lloyd has made numerous recordings. The most popular being “Oriental Jazz” first released in 1968 and recently re-released by Vinyl Me Please selling thousands of copies worldwide. A film about Lloyd’s extraordinary life, including 6 years in Europe as a jazzman and university student where he played with some of the most well-known musicians of the time, was released in 2019 as
Sufi, Saint & Swinger. It was in Paris that Lloyd met Dr. Daryush Safvat who became his lifelong mentor and who taught Lloyd the importance and significance of Persian classical music. Founder of Eastern Arts, with the blessing of Dr. Safvat, Lloyd has taught music, philosophy, history, dance and culture to thousands of students at various universities for over 40 years.
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