In 2022 I experienced a sema for the first time. I watched Münibe Millet perform a sema (whirling) for 75 minutes non-stop.

At the time, I had no idea what to expect. Time dissolved. The 75 minutes that had felt like an eternity, suddenly went by like a heartbeat.

I was mesmerised. I wanted to whirl with her. No other performance has ever made me physically and emotionally feel that way. With her raw feminine energy, she took me on an emotional journey, where I felt the deepest grief and despair - to the greatest bliss and joy.

The lines between the performance stage and audience were blurred energetically. Just like in female prayers, where the voices calling for prayer are opening a channel to the invisible world, Millet became a channel to something greater that is beyond words.

Throughout her performance, which is a blend of contemporary dance and the traditional Sufi practice of Sema - I was taken through a journey across time and space, past, present and future.

In my inner eye I saw the Minoan snake ladies whirl, and I had a deep knowing in my body that this form of movement is ancient across many cultures and civilizations.

Sema is the thread across humanity. As an audience you become One with the whirling void - the void, where you listen to the silence in your heart.

It was the full expression of the Wildness that we all carry as humans. This is what we are. This is the gift we carry.

Sema is the extension of female prayers.

It is the calling for prayer transformed to movement in physical and energetic space, where we invite the audience to crack their hearts wide open to let the light in.