site.btaUPDATED Mustafa Erdogan Stages Fire of Anatolia in Varna on Saturday, in Sofia on Sunday

A new version of choreographer Mustafa Erdogan's spectacle Fire of Anatolia was staged at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna on Saturday and at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia the following day, the organizers said. The show reportedly holds two Guinness records - one for fastest dance performance with 241 steps per minute and another for largest audience with 400,000 audience members in Eregli, on the Black Sea.

The show premiered on May 3, 2001, in Turkiye. Since then, it has been seen live by 45 million people across four continents - America, Asia, Europe and Africa.

Erdogan, called by some the new Maurice Bejart, said that for a show to live long, it has to evolve. Each new dancer or actor contributes to adding something new. Art is an evolving process, not a museum where you dare not touch anything.

The show's website says that Fire of Anatolia introduces the world to the fire that arises from the "ancient mosaic of love, cultural history and peace in Anatolia".

In 1999, Erdogan took his first steps towards bringing the show to the stage. The auditions for the show, known at the time as Sultans of the Dance, attracted 750 applicants, of whom 90 young dancers were selected. The initial year-and-a-half preparation involved daily rehearsals that generally lasted eight hours but sometimes up to 16.