Snake dance
In the so-called snake dance of the Old World , the dancer either imitates the movements of snakes or she dances with one or more snakes on her body. When imitating the movements of a snake, the dancer moves her body and limbs in flowing movements, thus imitating the way snakes move. The snake dance is common in the USA, Europe, Russia, as well as Australia and Egypt.
A fundamental difference is the snake dance as a nine-day religious ceremony of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, which priests celebrate every two years to conjure up rain .
The origin of the snake dance cannot be found out from historical sources. It is believed that early on in human history, healers , priests or shamans worshiped the snake as a sacred animal and danced with it in order to establish a connection to the world of the gods. Snake dances in oriental dance are often related to the figurative use of the king cobra in ancient Egyptian art, as the cobra was a sacred symbol and was used very often. Snake dances are also often associated with the death of Cleopatra VII , who allegedly died from the bite of a snake, or with the Minoan find of the so-called little snake goddess from the cult treasury of the sanctuary of the palace of Knossós . Both derivations try to give the fantasy dance with snakes (or as a depicted snake) a historical background and to seal an ancient authenticity. Today the design of the dance is left to the dancer's imagination.
When dancing with one or more snakes, a real dance is no longer possible due to the weight of the animal. Here mainly light and slow movements are used, especially to present the snake. A typical snake dance number consists in the dancer taking the snake out of the basket provided at one point in her dance and starting to dance with it. She has to cater to the animal and its movements, because snakes cannot be trained. With the weight of a full-grown snake, the dancer can at best make slow walking movements. The music used can be freely chosen as well as the costume, jewelry and other accessories .
literature
- Wendy Buonaventura: Serpent of the Nile: Women and Dance in the Arab World , Interlink Publishing Group, 1998, ISBN 1-5665-6300-3 .
- Karin Van Nieuwkerk: A Trade Like Any Other: Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt , University of Texas Press, 1995, ISBN 0-29278-723-5 .
- Wendy Buonaventura: Belly dance , Kunstmann Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-8889-7106-3 .
- Dietlinde Bedauia Karkutli: The Belly Dance Book , Rowohlt 2002, ISBN 3-4996-1328-X .
- Eluan Ghazal: The sacred dance. Oriental dance and sacred eroticism , Simon & Leutner, 2005, ISBN 3-92238-995-3 .
- Eluan Ghazal: snake cult and temple love. Sacred eroticism in archaic societies , Simon + Leutner, 1995, ISBN 3-92238-963-5 .