Isis Wings and Imagery
June 3, 2012 § 3 Comments
Isis Wings! They are fun, flowing and flashy!
It is difficult to find information on the origin of Isis Wings. The Dancers of the Desert write on their website “in doing research on Wings of Isis I found that there is no specific history on Isis wings. They started in Las Vegas [as] a prop used by show girls, and I am assuming, because of their similarity to Isis, the Egyptian goddess of love, fertility (She is depicted usually as a kneeling lady with wings), got their name…It is an American prop and does not fall into traditional Middle Eastern dance, but was developed with so many other props, into the middle Eastern art of belly dancing.”
There is this video on YouTube circa 1895 which was the first hand-painted movie. The props used are not Isis Wings, the description says they are veils (obviously attached to sticks), but the effect is rather Isis Wings-esque.
No matter where Isis Wings came from, they certainly awe audiences and capture the imagination. Sometimes they remind people of other, often-whimsical things.
One person told me this prop reminds them of the artificial swallowtail butterfly developed by researches to study how these beautiful and oddly proportioned insects stay in flight:
A spectator at one of Lumani‘s shows saw these…
…and thought them reminiscent of this popular caped crusader:
Personally, Isis Wings make me think of this:
Less whimsical, but this deadly Jurassic Park dino comes to mind every time.
Like everything, Isis Wings get reinvented with new technology. Behold! Some really cool LED Isis Wings!
After seeing this video, Princess Farhana said on twitter “WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that was better than being a kid at Disneyland’s Electric parade!!!!”
Do Isis Wings remind you of anything?
JadeDancer.com 
Well sometimes they remind me of the Australian frilled neck lizard, but mostly I think of faeries, butterflies and birds. Love the led wings – good find!
Hi, you haven’t posted for a while so I thought I would drop you a message. I have added you to http://jadebellydance.com/links/ 🙂
Thanks so much! I have been busy busy this summer, and I have really missed my blogging friends! I am back now!