Did you know that... bellydance as well as illusionist magic were both performed for the first time in Ancient Egypt?

Magic exists ever since the world began. It is the artform of deception, a good magician plays with what real and whats fiction, and confuses the audience leaving them shocked and dazzled. Those of us who enjoy magic, either as a hobby or professionally, know that illusionism dates back to ancient times, and that the first documented magic tricks took place in Ancient Egypt, the land of the pharaohs, a one of the most enigmatic civilizations in the world and with more than 5,000 years of history.

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YES! Same place where bellydance has it´s origin. There are various stories around his birth, but they are always related to Ancient Egypt and religious virtues, especially aimed at fertility. The most resonant story says that in Egypt priestesses and priest or magicians  were ere considered to have a special connection to the Universe and therefore had the power to carry out activities that the rest could not, even the Pharaoh himself.

The priestesses in particular carried out rituals in a private way in which they undulated their waist and abdomen, adoring Isis, Goddess of fertility, offering her their undulating movements of the belly and hips, where a new life is gestated, in exchange for fertility. This according to the theory comes from the years 3000 B.C. even before the Pharaohs.

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Also, those  priestesses and priests, fulfilled an important function in the Court, they interpreted the dreams of the pharaoh, they advised him, they carried out rituals and spells to help him in his business. Other priests also use magic for different purposes and specialize in branches of magical knowledge, there was a state magic in charge of medicine and healing, other magic to maintain the cosmic balance, other magic to subdue the enemies of the nation; other magic among the common people, people who dedicated themselves to divination, to healing, to performing protective spells that were applied to defend themselves from the many beings that turned out to be a threat to the living and another one, of course, that was used as a show for entertainment. And the same thing happened with belly dancing, that was not only used to please the gods but also to entertain the Pharaoh and his guests. Magic and dance were part of all areas in the life of the Egyptians, they were connected and valued by the priesthood as the most direct link with the celestial world, for this reason there were two disciplines  extremely important to this culture.

 

Shokry Mohmed, author of "The Magic Bellydance" explains why he chooses this definition to describe this dance: "The belly symbolizes the axis and the center of the person, not only physical, but above all spiritual and that already starts from the dawn of civilization. In bellydance, many other elements that come from different or previous cultures intervene, such as the Pharaonic, the Phoenician, the Nubia, the Turkish or the Berber. The term magical dance alludes to the deep feeling of deep communication that this dance encourages through music and movement, but, above all, the bellydancer with herself that must have. She must have spiritual strength, start from within" ​ ​

 

Both disciplines are registered in papyri and hieroglyphics, thanks to this we can know nowadays what happened thousands of years ago in this ancient culture. The hieroglyphics that we can see today show women making figures that could be related to belly dance.

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But, who did the world's first magic trick? In Beni Hassan's burial chamber, there is a drawing on the wall with two men and two bowls, and behind them there seems to be a drawing of a small ball that can be seen as if magicians were going to make it appear magically.

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But this is not the only information whe have. A British explorer named Henry Westcar, discovered in 1825 the so-called "Westcar Papyrus" a document in which someone describes a magic show performed by the magician Dyedi, a magician of the royal court of Khufu (Cheops). Years later we learned that Djedi was a magical legend among men, who was 110 years old and who even the pharaoh asked him to perform for him. On the chosen day, the pharaoh asks the magician what his powers are, to which he admits that he is only capable of magic with animals. It didn't take long for Pharaoh to bring him some animals and leave everything well arranged for him. The story goes that the magician Djedi took the animal, and after caressing it, he cut off its head and showed it to Pharaoh. As the pharaoh and his retinue stare in astonishment, Djedi places the goose's head back on his neck, whispers some magical words, and shakes the goose down on the ground.

To everyone's surprise, the goose raised its head, ruffled its feathers, and walked away as if nothing had happened. And so he continued his show, doing it with more animals. In addition, the researchers say that he knew how to tame lions, and also make a goose run through a room without a head and without tripping over anything. This idea of ​​decapitation and later restoration, remained as a common trick among magicians

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Although these two disciplines, dance and ilusionist magic, were two fundamental parts in the history of Ancient Egypt, they always were separately, no one had ever had the idea of merging these two disciplines in a live show before and that is why this show is so unique, because it shows together two fundamental parts of a culture that have never met before, and allows the audience to be transported to those remote times, in those distant lands, and to immerse themselves in the most magical, mystical and esoteric side of this culture.