Christina Boyd

HLAC 2:00pm class.

Anna K. West
A History of Veils.

There are many different types of dancing veils. From silks to sheers, canopy typed
veils, long rectangle pieces used to flow around the body, through the air, or even
attached to the ends of fans. They can be as small as kerchiefs or as large as the veil of
Isiss wings. Each piece was used to accentuate the body, and add to any variety of belly
dancing performances.

It is said that the first use of veils dates back to 4,500 Bc, where the Babylonian
goddess Ishtar demanded entrance to the under world to save her lover. This became the
myth known as The Seven Veils of Ishtar or Dance of the Seven Veils. In this myth,
the goddess had to perform a dance at each one of seven gates, leaving behind a veil and
a robe before proceeding onto the next gate and repeating the process, all until she stood
naked in the under world, ready to retrieve her lover Tammuz.

In a biblical story (Matthew 14: 2-11), a young girl named Salome performed the
Dance of the Seven Veils to please her mothers new husband who was king. Her
mother and Herod, the king, were having a marriage that was frowned upon by John the
Baptist. Because of this, the king had him thrown into jail. After her dance, having of
stripped of all of her veils and tossed them to the side, Herod said that he would grant her

anything she desired. Consulting her mother, who wanted John dead, she had her
daughter request that the prophets head be brought to her on a tray. Needless to say, the
task was carried out and John was beheaded.

Beyond the myth and the verses, veils started in an oriental dance, stemming largely
from American and Turkish night clubs. The modern veil dance came to us in the mid 20th
century. In the early 1900s a dancer by the name of Loie Fuller performed with flowing
skirts and veils, inspiring other dancers to take it up at well. veils started in an oriental
dance, stemming largely from American and Turkish night clubs. In the 1950s American
Oriental dancers added veils to their dances to impress their American audiences with
their manipulation of the fabric and its flow. Early plays and operas of Salome and her
Dance of the Seven Veils played a part in developing the veil dances popularity as well.

Stemming from the Middle East, veil dancing can usually be traced to Samina
Gamal. In the 1940s she was training with a Russian ballet instructor named Madam
Ivanova. Samina made a comment to her teacher about how she didnt know what to do
with her arms, and she wanted to appear much more graceful when she entered. So it was
suggested that she carry a veil behind her as she took to the stage.

The veil as an entrance piece became fairly standard with Egyptian dancers. Though
they would only use it for a short amount of time before discarding it off to the side and
then would continue with their dance.

Turkish and American developed this into the modern dance veil dancing. Furthering
their practice, they evolved it into more complex styles such as the double veil style. In
the late 80s and 90s veil like capes and Isis wings took off in popularity, then followed
by veil fans in the 2000s.
Why I wanted to write about this subject was simply because it excited me.
Whenever I went to a dance at a convention in my belly dance outfits, I had a sash tied
around my waist. At time I would untie it and use it to accent my movements, simply
making up stuff on the spot and it would be a lot of fun.

I never really knew what veil dancing was until it was introduced in class. I was
thrilled to learn that the little bits I had been doing actually had a style, and that there was
so much beauty in that style. If I were to ever dance professionally, my dances would
surely be centered around dancing with veils.

Sources cited:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+14&version=NLT

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14?lang=eng

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil#Dance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_Seven_Veils

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar

http://www.shira.net/sevenveils.htm

http://www.shemsdance.com/articles/veil-and-double-veil-dance/

http://middleeasterndance.homestead.com/Movements/VeilWork/AboutVeils.html