Dance of the seven veils

In several areas of Western culture, the Dance of the Seven Veils 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 her (unnamed) daughter 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, that Herod and Herodias's ex-husband are specifically known to have been half-brothers, and the execution is adequately explained by John's criticism and other political needs Herod plausibly perceived.

The details enriching the story in later Christian mythology include giving the name Salomé to Herod's previously unnamed nubile stepdaughter, providing a name for the dance, and the purpose of the dance being to inflame Herod with incestuous desire so that he would grant her anything she asked.

In the Oscar Wilde play and Strauss opera Salome, the dance remains unnamed, 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 esthetic notions of the stage director, choreographer, and soprano, and on the choreographic skills and body shape of that singer. At 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.

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.