Cairo: whirling.

One evening, I went with a group of CouchSurfers to Islamic Cairo to see Al Tannoura [facebook, YouTube], a group that does Sufi dancing three times a week. Tickets are free - the group is funded by the Ministry of Culture or something like that. The dancing is a spiritual thing for Sufis, and while you can tell that some of the dancers/musicians are just doing their job, some of them seem to actually get into it and be in some kind of spiritual state - but maybe they're just good actors! I'm not sure whether they're all actually Sufi or what. One of the musicians who seemed really into it brought to mind Southern Baptists, with their crying and falling on the floor and speaking in tongues.

A clip of the group [not from me or anyone I know - just found on YouTube].

The venue - the courtyard of a beautiful old building.

Everyone loved the awesome old dude with the castanets - lot of character. He had a duel with that drummer and did a few "talk to the castanet" moves.