Dance of the seven veils
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In several areas of Western culture, the Dance of the Seven Veils (usually described as danced by Salomé) is one of the elaborations on the historical and biblical tale of the execution of John the Baptist.
According to ten verses of Matthew 14, John was imprisoned for criticizing the marriage between King Herod Antipas and his "brother's" ex-wife Herodias. Herod offered his niece a reward of her choice for performing an (unnamed) dance on his birthday, and Herodias got her to ask for John the Baptist's head on a platter, which was granted.
(The phrases "bring someone [someone else's] head on a platter" or "have [someone's] head on a platter" remain popular metaphors in Western culture for anger and/or retribution.)
Historically, Herod and Herodias's ex-husband are known to have been half-brothers[citation needed]. John's execution was most likely ordered by Herod because of his criticism and other political needs.
The historian Josephus gives the stepdaughter's name, Salomé and other details enriching the story in later Christian legend include providing a name for the dance, and the purpose of the dance being to inflame Herod with incestuous desire so that he would treat John as she wished.
[edit] Cultural References
In the Oscar Wilde play Salome and Strauss opera Salome, the dance remains unnamed except in the acting notes, but Salome's sexual fascination with John seems to motivate the request -- though Herodias is still pleased. The most famous music for the "Dance of the Seven Veils" comes from near the climax of the opera. The visual content of that scene (about seven minutes in length with standard tempi) has varied greatly depending on the aesthetic notions of the stage director, choreographer, and soprano, and on the choreographic skills and body shape of that singer. Near one extreme, the 2004 production starring Karita Mattila at the Metropolitan Opera made her surname the accepted New York term for changing the color of pubic hair to blonde because of the visual focus of the scene. At that extreme were various early 1990"s productions (in London and San Francisco) starring American soprano Maria Ewing, who left hers black and clearly wore nothing.
This dance has also inspired imitation in the world of burlesque and striptease, with Sally Rand adapting it to her distinctive style.
The phrase "doing the Dance of the Seven Veils" is a metaphor for an elaborate presentation of information, especially one whose stages proceed more from area to area than through increasing degrees of detail. It generally gives the impression that ultimately Salome does not reveal everything.
[edit] Other references in modern and popular culture
- In the 1941 Disney short "A Good Time for a Dime", Donald watches a risque Daisy perform the dance in a Mutoscope at a penny arcade nickelodeon peep show.
- American author Tom Robbins includes the dance, performed by a character named Salomé, in his 1990 novel Skinny Legs and All.
- Breakcore artist Hecate appropriated the theme of Salomé's dance on the album Seven Veils of Silence (2004).
- The cult b-movie, Hell Comes to Frogtown, parodies the Dance of the Seven Veils with the appalling Dance of the Three Snakes.
- In an episode of Get Smart, the Dance of the Seven Veils was to be used as a signal indicating at which table an enemy spy was sitting.
- New X-Men #139 depicts psychic Emma Frost used her powerful telepathic abilities to simulate the Dance of the Seven Veils when auditioning as a dancer for the earliest incarnation of the Hellfire Club.
- Sinead O' Connor sings the words; 'I'm dancin' the Seven Veils' at the beginning of the song 'Mandinka'.
- In one of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, the Dance of the Seven Veils is parodied in a dance done by female city trolls, in which a female troll slowly puts on seven very thick blankets. As trolls customarily go about naked except for a small loincloth, troll males get very excited by the sight of female trolls in lots and lots of clothes.
- Eskimo Joe have a song called 'Seven Veils', the chorus of which goes, "Oohh you could see her dance the seven veils".
[edit] Trivia
The dance is parodied in a famous Goon Show scene (Dishonoured' 14th December 1954 - script on web) when Eccles in drag performs the 'Dance of the Seven Army Surplus Blankets', temporarily seducing the unfortunate Neddy Seagoon.
