Salomé, (pronounced SLOM) was the daughter of King Herod Philip I (d. AD 34) ruler of Palestine and Herodias . As the story goes: Salomé danced before the Tetrarch of Galilee ' King Herod Antipas (BC - d. AD 39, a son of Herod the Great), at the Castle of Machaerus (located in gorge of Callirhoe, one of the wadies 9 miles east of the Dead Sea, now called M'khaur) who was the incestuous lover of Herodias (daughter of daughter of Aristobulus and Bernice as well as Herod the greats niece and Salome's mother) to get what she wanted. Herod Antipas loved her exotic dancing and would do just about anything to watch Salomé dance. John the Baptist (son of Zacharias and Elisabeth) was publicly disgracing Herodias (Wife of Herod Phillip, Antipa's half Brother) for incest and adultery.

     Herodias' hated John and wanted Antipas to silence him. Antipas would not hear of it and almost teased her with him. On Antipas birthday, Salomé danced before Herod and to fulfill his promise to Salomé (Matt. Xiv. 7), to give her whatever she wanted, she asked for the Head of John The Baptist, to please her mother Herodias. Herod preferred to commit a murder rather than to break his vow and disappoint his mistress/Wife. Salomé would later marry Phillip, her father.

     That's not all though, later in Salome's life as she was crossing the frozen river of Sikoris, she fell through the ice in such a manner that her body floated in the water while her head stayed above the ice. Thus she remained until the sharp ice had severed her neck. Her headless body was never found; her severed head was brought to Herod and Herodias. Thus the BIBLICAL story of Salomé and John the Baptist (Matthew 14:6-8, Mark vi, 17-29, Jos. Ant XVIII, v 1-4 and St. Luke in the New Testament).

     Salomé became the symbol of a sexually demonic women, as well as having had overtones of incest, sadism and depravity which you can see in many art pieces of years past, such as Gustave Moreaus painting, (1874-86) "Salomé Dancing Before Herod."

     Salomé's dance was very beautiful however, but because of what she did with her beauty and power of dance, most writers and movie producers gave it a more evil overtone. Salomé and the Dance of the Seven Veils are basically the same thing.

     Oscar Wilde 's play "Salomé" was banned in England and later reproduced in Paris by Sarah Bernhardt in 1894, then later a performance of Salomé was in 1896 in Paris at the de l'ceuvre theater. The Salomé Dance was made popular by Gertrude Hoffman in the early nineteen hundreds. It has been said that "Mademoiselle Dazie" introduced the "Salomé Dance" in 1907, However Maude Allan made her debut acting and dancing Salome in the "Vision Of Salomé" in 1903.

     Striptease, Belly dancing and the "Dance of the Seven Veils" are linked to the dance of Salomé. The dance of the Seven Veils is basically a Belly dance routine today and is considered very seductive, using veils, removed one at a time (see belly dance.) On her descent to the underworld, the Goddess Ishtar, has to remove her powers/attributes, one at a time at each of the Seven gates to descend, this passage depicts the removal of the Veils. The Salome dance is based on the "Welcoming back" of Ishtar's return.

     Theda Bara, Eva Tanguay and Gaby Desyls danced the Seven Veils professionally in the early 1900's.

     Dr. R. A. Adams in his book entitled "The social dance," written in 1921. says: "Now, when the people of today will dance, as the ancients danced, dance women and men separate, dance to the glory of God, dance with the thought of God in their minds, the objections will be withdrawn. But the sad truth is, the dances of today are for the most part, the "Salome" dances, with the addition of men to gaze upon the nakedness of the women and to come into close physical touch with them. It might be added that the "Salome Dance" is still considered indecent to the extent that it has been barred from the theaters of many cities of this country and other countries".

 [ PIC1 PIC2 PIC3 PIC4]

Films / Movies

Television

Ballets / Stage

1897 - Butterfly Dance

1893 - Salome (Oscar Wilde)

1908 - Salome

Salome (Sarah Bernhardt-1844-1923)

1909 - Salome Mad

1895 - Salome (Fuller - Comedie Parisienne)

1914 - Sawdust and Salome

1918 - Salome

1903- Vision Of Salome

1919 - Salome vs. Shenandoah

1906 - Salome Libretto (M.E.T.)

1920 - A Modern Salomé

1907 - Dazie

1920 - A Sister To Salome

1908 - Fluffy Ruffles

1923 - Salome DVD (Nazimova)

1908 - Follies of 1908 (Mlle. Dazie)

1923 - Strauss Salomé

1909 - Herod

1925 - Salomé of the Tenements

1910 - Follies (Vision of Salome)

1926 - Dante's Inferno

1910 - Seaman's Transatlantic Burlesque

1927 - Heart Of Salomé

1940 - El Nacimiento de Salomé

1910- The Tragedy Of Salomé (Ballet)

1940 - Salomé

1915 - Stop, Look and Listen

$ 1945 - Salome where she dncd

1930 The Wandering Jewes (Vicreck)

$ 1953 - Salomé (Hayworth)

Bus Stop (strip)

1961 - king Of Kings

1947 - Grande Ballet de Monte-Carlo

$ 1973 - Salome & the Forbidden [DVD]

1947 - Salomé - NYC Opera

$ 1974 - Salome (Strausses)

1981 - Salome (Italian)

1985 - Salomé

$ 1990 - Salome (Malfitano)

Publications

$ 1992 - Salome (Covent Garden)

8/25/1929 - Ogden Standard Examiner (Jessie York)

$ 1997 - Salome (Malfitano) [DVD]

$ 1997 Salome-Comp Opera

$ 1988 - Salomes Last Dance

Salome's Bath (St. Cyr)

A Man Of No Importance

Damn Yankee's (Strip)

Salome

Other Related Dances ...

Ballet

Exotic

Pompeiin Dance

Belly Dance (Raks Sharqi)

Jazz

Burlesque

Mime

Strip Tease

Dance Of The Seven Veils

Modern Jazz

Veil Dance

Dancers, Choreographers etc.

Political

1890's - Mary Garden

1961 - Brigid Brizlan

Herod Antipas (d. AD - 39)

1890's - Little Egypt

1981 - Gina Alajar

Christ (37 BC- 4 BC)

1890/1920s - Allah Nazimova

Anja Silja

Herodias

1895 - Loie Fuller

Diana Allen

John The Baptist (c.28-30 AD)

1903 - Maude Allen

Djita

Pontius Pilate (BC-AD 26-36)

1906 - Saharet

Eva Tanquay

1908 - Ada Overton Walker

Gertrude Hoffman

1910 - Boris Romanoff

Lilly St. Cyr

1912 - Ida Rubenstein

Maria Ewing

1915 - Gaby Deslys

Mlle. Dazie

1919 - Theda Barra

Natacha Rambova

1920s - Nina Barkis

Olive Fremsted

1925 - Jetta Goudal

Ruth Muller (Gay version)

Ruth St. Denis

1946 - Beverly Cort

Vera Fokina

1953 - Rita Hayworth

1955 - Eartha Kitt

Books, Magazine Articles on the dance...

Title

Writer

Date

Publisher

The Bible

Joseph, Mark, Matthew, St. Luke etc.

Putnam Magazine

Putnam

1868

n/a

Frank Leslies Magazine

n/a

1899

n/a

The Social Dance

Adams, Dr. R. A.

1921

Revels Acorn

Theater Arts Magazine

n/a

3/1934

n/a

A Pictorial History of Burlesque

Sobel, Bernard

1956

Bonanza Books

Scamp Magazine

n/a

11/1957

n/a

Dancing , The Pleasure, Power & Art Of Movement

Jonas, Gerald

1992

Harry Abrahms

Musicians etc.

Singers

Poets / Writers

Chayanne

Fanny Brice

1/1868 - Putnams Magazine (book)

Eduard Strauss (1835-1916)

Ljuba Welitsch

1869 - Pavis de Chavannes

Hesitation Band (Passing)

Sophie Tucker

1874 - Gustave Moreau (Artist)

Imperial Society Orchestra

1892 - G. Rochergrosse

Massane

1854-1900 - Oscar Wilde

1905 - Richard Strauss - Opera

1906 - Franz Von Struck (of Saharet)

1910 - A. Piotrowski (Artist)

1921 - M. Ben Susan (Artist)

Da Vinci

Links

Gustov Klint

 Bible Dictionary

Israel yon Menecken (Artist)

Jan van Troyen (fl. 1650-1660)

Karel yon Mander (Artist)

Pablo Picasso (Artist)

Saint-Etienne-Toulouse

Troy Kinney (Artist)

Misc. Research Words that may be related ... to help your searches

Agrippa

Herodias

Religion

Aretas, king of Perea

John The Baptist

Sadducees

Christ

Lucian, Lucias

the Black Fortress

Christianity (Palestine)

Matthew (new Testament)

Zebedee (aka Salome)

Goddess Ishtar (of war & Love)

Pharisees

Herod

Pontius Pilate

Other ...