Thread: History of dancing with snakes?

What is the history of dancing with snakes in ME dance? I.e., who came up with it in this particular setting? I know that women danced with snakes in ancient Greece, but I am asking specifically about ME dance.

When we watched the Legends DVD, there was a scene of a dancer in Bal Anat with a snake, which made me wonder whether it was Jamila's idea to bring that to the stage.

I just assumed snake dancing was mostly Orientalism. Schehera says she was the first dancer in the Midwest to dance with a snake as a prop, and it was not something she had been formally taught by someone else. She was on the Johnny Carson show in the early 1970's (1972, IIRC), so that fixes at least one date and place. Might be more information in the interview John Clow did with her at GS, but I can't access their archives at the moment.

Correction: I remembered wrong on the year. Schehera danced with her snake on Johnny Carson in 1968. She talks a little about it here http://www.gildedserpent.com/art44/johnclowschehera.htm. (Thanks to Lynette for reopening the GS archives!)

I have some information at home. I'll see it when I get there...

I'm pretty sure it's all Orientalism too.

Sorta curious though, so sorry for the hijack, but are there any cultural dances that use snakes and could still be viewed today? If they exist I'm pretty sure they don't look a thing like belly dancing!

There's a Christian sect in the US somewhere in which members handle snakes and let themselves be bitten. But I don't think any dancing is involved.

You're thinking of snake handlers, which is an mostly an isolated Appalachian sect of Christians, who handle snakes, believing that their faith in God will protect them. They do sing and dance, but there's no relation to belly dance...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUdc5h10zTo"]YouTube - Snake Handlers at Jolo, West Virginia[/ame]

I agree with other posters, I think it's an Orientalist thing. Possibly related to concepts of snake charming? See this article:

http://www.bdancer.com/med-guide/culture/snake.html

Ah, it seems as if our hypothesis about the American invention was on the right track. The Bal Anat footage that lead to the question must have been from the early 70s/late 60s, I believe, given that Suhaila looked as if she was 4 or 5.

And the West Virigina thing is a bit freaky. However, it makes some sense because snakes, including rattlers, are fairly common in the state; I recall on one of our first camping trips down there, the camp ground owner warned us that "the snakes are on the move", and that they had to remove a copperhead from the toilets the day before - he seemed to consider all that totally normal, I did not agree ;-)

Originally Posted by steffib

And the West Virigina thing is a bit freaky. However, it makes some sense because snakes, including rattlers, are fairly common in the state; I recall on one of our first camping trips down there, the camp ground owner warned us that "the snakes are on the move", and that they had to remove a copperhead from the toilets the day before - he seemed to consider all that totally normal, I did not agree ;-)

Snakes are very common in that region. Snake Handling also comes from a very literal interpretation of scripture:

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. —Mark 16:17-18

Anyway, back to the original topic.

Originally Posted by marsbar

I'm pretty sure it's all Orientalism too.

Sorta curious though, so sorry for the hijack, but are there any cultural dances that use snakes and could still be viewed today? If they exist I'm pretty sure they don't look a thing like belly dancing!

At least one Native American group, the Hopi, dances with snakes (rattlesnakes) but they do not allow people to view it any longer as far as I know.

I remember reading something by Jamila Salimpour - probably in Habibi - where she relates the snake handler in Bal Anat (not a dancer - part of the circus side) had to slip out and gave one of the dancers his snake to look after - but then they had to be on stage so they took the snake along. Bingo - belly dance with snakes.

See this link: http://www.suhailainternational.com/...any_tribes.pdf

See the second page of the PDF, which is labeled as page 17, right-hand column, just below the photo, a paragraph beginning with the words, "In 1969, I accidentally used snakes."