LILY老师肚皮舞英语专栏：Dancing with snakes

Lily Liu (刘浏薏 🇨🇳)has always been curious about the course and performance of "Dancing with Snakes"? During my study abroad in the United States, I met an internationally Oriental dance instructor named Morocco to inquire about his actual performance and related origins.

Morocco said ：“I am Persian and grew up with Oriental and other folk dances (before the 1979 revolution through normal classes and shows, after through forbidden, hidden classes, shows and videos). I have never seen a dance with a snake. I remember male street performers who used snakes but did not do anything like Oriental dance, so after I came to Germany, I was shocked to see and read about Oriental dancers who used snakes. I searched for its origin, but found nothing. Then I read that it has no relation to Oriental dance-It is from the circus.

True. Snakes are pretty, they coil around you as if they are dancing, they shock audiences. It is yet another Western fantasy invention. Except for snake charmers who do everything to those poor snakes except dance with them, folks "Over There" are afraid of snakes too. The naked boy with a huge snake wrapped around his body in the orientalist painting is not dancing.

They have show-off gimmicks "Over There". Like picking up chairs and tables in the teeth in Upper Egypt, mostly in beledi coffeehouse or moulid settings, while continuing to do torso/ hip movements. And dances done by some waiters in more touristy Greek tavernas, while doing Greek folk steps. Remember that song in the Broadway show, "Gypsy": "Ya Gotta Have A Gimmick"? Snakes are much lighter to carryaround than tables, easier on the bridgework and keep troublemakers far away from the stage area.

In the 1960s wave of popularity of Oriental dance in America, it was more about gimmicks and less about dance. Somebody, who did not know enough Oriental dance to do a full show or wanted something different danced with a snake. Others copied it. They were only in American venues, not in the ethnic restaurants because it is non-ethnic. Like fire-eating, folding dollar bills or flipping coins with one's stomach muscles: Western show biz. They do not dance with snakes "Over There". I have seen some good dances with snakes in the U.S., but if there is a snake involved, it is usually mostly about the snake and less about the dance.

If you're thinking of dancing with a snake as a "gimmick", my advice is to forget it. It is not novel or exotic any more current audiences are much more blasé. In addition, you must be very careful about costuming and accessories, so that the snake will not be hurt (or find some bits attractive enough to want to swallow).

You can use a snake only during the slower parts of its dance with you, the faster parts will literally shake it up too much and it might regurgitate its last meal all over you on stage. A snake does not go along with your choreography. It snakes, you follow.

Not even a trace of perfume with any sort of musk in it because that scent sends the snake into hunt mode. Costumes you wore when you wore perfume will still have traces of it so you cannot wear them until you have washed them thoroughly more than once. Many are not washable, so you will not be able to use them with snakes and be careful with hair pieces and your own hair-snakes wind around where they want to and twice I have seen a snake either detach a hairpiece (very funny) or get really caught in the dancer's hair (not funny).

Snakes require real, daily care and prefer live food such as mice or rats if it is bigger." They shed and have snake PMS during that protracted time. It is not wise to dance with a shedding snake, so you'll need more than one. Hopefully, they'll get along. If they do not, you'll need separate tanks foreach. Do you have the room and comfortable climatic conditions? You'll need an unsqueamish snake sitter if and when you go away on vacation they still must be fed, watered and cleaned

Will the jobs you get because of the snakes earn you more than it will cost to feed, house and medically care for them and cover the cost of the snake-friendly costumes? Nowadays, the answer is usually no, so you'd better like snakes a lot and simply want them as pets anyway.