“Dancing the Orient for England: Maud Allan’s The Vision of Salome ” by Amy Koritz

1. “Dancing the Orient for England: Maud Allan’s The Vision of Salome”by Amy Koritz Presentation by Christian Hughes

2. Outline • Orientalism, Imperialism, Etc. (10 minutes) • Life of Maud Allan/ story and portrayal of Salome/ characteristic gestures(15 minutes) • Maud’s Thoughts (5 minutes)

3. Aims • To understand the stereotypes, attitudes, and biases of England at the time when Maud Allan performed “The Vision of Salome” • To understand Allan’s portrayal of Salome and the popular reaction to it • To understand the impact Allan’s Salome had upon London society

4. Key Terms • Orientalism: “characterized as female those attributes that denoted the inferiority of England’s colonized peoples” (133) • Separate-Spheres Gender Ideology: notion that men and women have different roles in society • Imperialism: English policy of extending their rule over other peoples • Nationalism: devotion to one’s nation

5. Working Together • Orientalism led to wide-spread acceptance of English imperial policies • Imperialism helped to bring together people domestically and keep their dissatisfaction subdued • This combination of imperialism and Orientalism thus led to a rise in nationalism and the formation of the English national character (strong and masculine)

6. White Man’s Burden • The stereotypes these ism’s formed led to defining the Oriental as “needing, deserving, even desiring domination” (134). • Women were excluded and ignored for much of this period as the female nature was considered inadequate to the needs of the Empire

7. Discussion Question • Imperialism was said to make “good ideological cement” as it helped to “subdue dissatisfaction” and got “potentially rebellious internal groups…to ignore their own interests” (134). Do you think this is similar to the situation in the U.S. right now? And if so, is it a good or bad thing?

8. And then there’s Maud (Allan) • Born in Toronto in 1873 • Moved to SF a few years later, young Maud kidnapped by Indians for a short period • Left SF in 1895 to pursue a music career in Berlin • Brother charged and executed for brutal murders while Maud is in Europe • Distraught over brother’s death, Maud abandons piano for dance

9. More of Maud • Debuted as a dancer in Vienna at age of 30 • Soon became a star in London performing “The Vision of Salome” • Lost libel case she brought against a British MP who linked her name publicly to the “Cult of the Clitoris” in 1918 • Gradually popularity dwindled and she died in poverty in L.A. in 1956

10. Salome • Biblical story of girl in King Herod’s court who makes enemies with the king’s prisoner John the Baptist • Herod (whom Salome despises because he killed her father) offers her anything she desires if she will dance for him • She does the famous Dance of the Seven Veils and is brought John’s head on a plate

11. More Salome • Oscar Wilde wrote a play based upon the story of Salome • Came to be associated with homosexuality as Oscar Wilde performed the play in drag (performance was banned in England) • Strauss turned Wilde’s play into an opera • All-female Salome parties evolved that featured nude women dancing seductively the Dance of the Seven Veils

12. Maud Allan’s Salome • Very popular in London around 1908 • Ran an unprecedented 250 performances in the Palace Theatre • Eclipsed Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis in England • Allan claimed Salome dance was one of spiritual awakening

13. Portrayal by Allan • Her portrayal of the Oriental princess Salome “did not employ the kind of movement many critics associated with Eastern dancing” (139). • It was “not recognized as typically Western either” as it was “not typical of contemporary English dance” and she “made striking use of her hands and arms” (139), instead of placing the focus on her feet, as in ballet and step-dancing. • it was considered an “inauthentic” Eastern dance,as an authentic dance would have been “something lascivious and repulsively ugly” and “dismissed as vulgar”(140).

14. Discussion Question • Do you feel Americans censor or warp authentic items of other cultures in order to make them conform to American tastes and/or beliefs?

15. Manager of the Palace uses the “Orientalist stereotypes of aggressive and dangerous-but inviting and available-female sexuality” (140) to lure audiences. Excerpt from advertisement: “The desire that flames from her eyes and bursts in hot gusts from her scarlet mouth infects the very air with the madness of passion. Swaying like a white witch, with yearning arms and hands that plead, Maud Allan is such a delicious embodiment of lust that she might win forgiveness for the sins of such wonderful flesh” (140). Advertising for “The Vision of Salome”

16. Discussion Question • Do you think that some ads/movies/tv shows today accentuate the sexuality of other cultures in order to lure audiences?

17. Stereotypes and Salome • Allan violated the “privilege” of middle-class femininity by appearing in public scantily clad • Violated separation of East and West by being a Western woman playing an Eastern woman • As she was playing an Eastern woman, it implied that Eastern cultures could not represent themselves, but that they needed superior cultures to do it for them • Reaffirmed the spiritual nature of woman contained in the separate-spheres gender ideology

18. Discussion Question • Maud Allan was thought to be more popular than Duncan and St. Denis in London because she represented the attitudes of the English better than them. Do you think artists are more popular that embody our beliefs or attitudes toward things?

19. National Dance • A culture’s style of dance is thought to be based on the characteristic gestures of their people • According to one author, the English national dance is the Morris, which is the “organized, traditional expression of virility, sound health and animal spirits”. It “smacks of cudgel-play, of quarterstaff, of wrestling, of honest fisticuffs”. Of course, there is “nothing sinuous about it, nothing dreamy, nothing whatever is left to the imagination”. It is the “dance of folk who are slow to anger, but of great obstinacy”. It is considered “the perfect expression in rhythm and movement of the English character” (143).

20. Discussion Question • Do you think the U.S. has a national dance? If so, what is it? And what does it say about us or our culture?

21. Come on, Maud, tell us what you really think… • As an opponent to the women’s suffrage movement, Maud argued that women were too emotional and easily swayed to be included in politics • Even though she violated the traditional role of the middle-class woman (she was single, childless, and self-supporting), she placed great emphasis on the spiritual duties of women, as outlined in the separate spheres gender ideology. • She did, however, support equal opportunities for women in education and job opportunities (if the women had no men to support them). • Many, however, believe that Allan may have suppressed her true beliefs to be dissociated from feminism. (Many of her best patrons were not allied with the suffragists.)

22. Discussion Question • Do you think many women today hide their true beliefs on equality in order not to get ahead or just not be associated with feminism? Why or why not?

23. Conclusion • While Maud Allan may have advanced women somewhat by making it more acceptable for middle-class women to have careers in dance, as Salome, she also fed into the imperialism, Orientalism, and separate-spheres gender ideologies popular at the time.

24. Additional Sources • Burnside, Julian. R v PEMBERTON BILLING: The Black Book Case, 2001. 10th November, 2001. http://www.users.bigpond.com/burnside/pembertonbilling.htm • Cherniavsky, Felix. Maud Allan and Her Art, 2001. 10th November, 2001. http://www.dcd.ca/bkmaud.htm • History of Sexuality. The Clitoris: historical myths and facts, 2001. 10th November, 2001. http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah/clitoris.htm • Marlow, Shelly F. Salome, 1996. 10th November, 2001. http://www.zingmagazine.com/zing3/reviews/030_marlow.html • McGill, Nichole. Saints of the Month, 2001. 10th November, 2001. http://www.freewillastrology.com/pages/zenpride/archives/january99/saint-jan.html