Thread: Loie Fuller's "Serpentine Dance"-possible influence for Wings of Isis?

In the course of researching a paper, I came across this video from 1896 of Loie Fuller's "Serpentine Dance." You can't help but notice the resemblance to our modern use of Wings of Isis. Does anyone know of connections between Fuller's dance/use of props and the origins of wings in belly dance?

The first time I saw wings, ages ago, I thought of Loie Fuller....

I understood that Isis Wings were a common part of stage shows which included dancers - like what you'd see in Los Vegas; dance spectaculars; theatre dance. I think these were the source of the wings Ayshe used back in 1991 - ie she had the prop which she had experience using in a different context and one night added it to a belly dance performance.

Another related find: her patent application for a cape-like costume with wands ..g.:



U. S. Patent #518, 347 issued to Marie Louise Fuller in 1894 for a "Garment for Dancers."

A dancer called Najia has written about her theory of American-style veil dance coming from Loie Fuller and other dancers like Isadora Duncan in a couple of articles on Gilded Serpent. It makes sense that wings developed out of the skirt dance tradition.

This doesn't pertain to the historical relationship between Loie Fuller and Isis wings, but Anaheed performed a tribute to Loie Fuller at the 2004 Evening of Experimental Middle Eastern Dance. I recall seeing a brief clip of her performance somewhere, but I can't pull it up now.