The name "Dance of the Seven Veils" was chiefly popularized in modern culture with the English translation of Oscar Wilde 's French play Salome in the stage direction "Salome dances the dance of the seven veils". Herod offered his unnamed niece a reward of her choice for performing a dance for his guests on his birthday.
Herodias persuaded her daughter to ask for John the Baptist 's head on a platter. Against his better judgment, Herod reluctantly acceded to her request. The Romano-Jewish historian Josephus lists Antipas's stepdaughter's name as Salome, but makes no mention of a dance nor makes any connection between Salome and John the Baptist.
Wilde was influenced by earlier French writers who had transformed the image of Salome into an incarnation of female lust. Rachel Shteir writes that,. Wilde was especially influenced by Gustave Flaubert 's story "Herodias" in which Salome dances on her hands to please Antipas.
The type of dance was common among "gypsy" acrobats in the 19th century. She freed and floated on the air her arms Above dim veils that hid her bosom's charms The veils fell round her like thin coiling mists Shot through by topaz suns and amethysts.
The poem goes on to describe brief views of her "jewelled body" as the flowing veils swirl and part. Wilde transforms the dance from a public performance for his guests, as in the Bible, to a personal dance for the king himself. He gives no description of the dance beyond the name, but the idea of a series of veils has been connected to a process of unveiling. As Malik says, "although Wilde does not describe Salome's dance or suggest that she remove any veils, her dance is invariably assumed to be one of unveiling, thus revealing herself.
