Sisters of Salome

by Toni Bentley

Book Overview

The origins of the art of exotic dancing lie in English drama and Viennese opera: Oscar Wilde's 1893 play Salome, and Richard Strauss's 1905 opera based on it, brought onto the stage a female... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300090390
• ISBN13: 9780300090390
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

My kind of history

As a painter I've always loved the image of Salome, so emblematic of the fuzzy line between manipulation and exploitation (the line we walk so proficiently these days.) I'd had a vague notion of these women who danced the part of Salome at the turn of the century (Maud Allen, Mata Hari, Ida Rubenstein and Colette) but I had no idea how fabulous and frankly whacked, they were. None of our Madonna's or Paris Hilton's has anything on these girls. But the thing I loved most about this book is that though it is literate and historically informative, it still manages to be personal in a way unlikely for any historian. It's a story that pretty much had to be written by a woman not only with dance credentials (Toni Bentley danced for Balanchine for ten years and wrote what is considered to be the definitive book on what it's like to be a young dancer (Winter Season) but someone who understands the particular mix of art and exhibitionism that was called upon by these strange and remarkable women. A lovely book written with a light touch and a unique perspective. I look forward to Ms Bentley's next book.

The Strange Origins of Striptease

Oscar Wilde is responsible for striptease. Well, not directly, perhaps, but there is a surprising connection drawn in _Sisters of Salome_ (Yale University Press) by Toni Bentley, an examination of four women who interpreted Salome around the turn of the last century. Wilde took his story from legend (not the Bible story), and invented the famous "Dance of the Seven Veils" for his French play _Salome_. It initiated the craze for "Salomania" and there was even a school for Salomes that churned out dancers to go into the variety halls. Bentley's introduction inserts herself into the history of striptease, and she gives a good account of ending her career as a ballerina and going onto the stage (just once?) as a stripper. She felt power; "... there was no victimization on either side of these footlights." It was a revelatory experience: "I was unmasked and, for a miraculous minute, thrilled in my body, unafraid of my life. I was in - for me - Paradise."Her research into how striptease originated centered on four women who had initially interpreted to the theatrical Salome. Maudie Durant was the sister of a serial killer, and escaped to Europe and to the stage as Maud Allan as a way to free herself from disgrace. She became "the least dressed dancer of our time," and she then portrayed Salome in 1906. She became involved in a ridiculous trial which she lost in large part because it was shown that she knew what a clitoris was. Ida Rubenstein was the child of Russian aristocrats, and the only Salome here who had few worries about money. She liked expensive, self-aggrandizing shows and ended up derided for her vanity. She did, however, sponsor artists of real ability; Ravel composed _Bolero_ for her. Everyone knows the name of the spy Mata Hari, but everyone knows wrong. She performed all over Europe, and took lovers; she had a special weakness for those in uniform. As a result, she did take money for spying, but didn't do any. She was framed and executed in France in 1917. With Colette, perhaps Bentley is guilty of over-application of her theme, because Colette never played Salome, although she did once perform on the same billing as Mata Hari. Unlike the other three women profiled here, Colette had a genuinely happy and long life. She graduated from virgin bride to lesbian, to happily married housewife, although she did seduce a former husband's son. She used her success in scandals, including her stage nakedness, to become an author whose fiction and memoirs have inspired far more readers than just Bentley.This is a book of a peculiar history, not only of four dancers, but of one period of the dance itself. None of them were very good dancers, but nakedness and scandal made up for that. All four reinvented themselves and used the Salome role for gains in power and money, although such gains were mostly temporary. None had a conventional life or marriage, and perhaps there is some sort of lesson in the sad ends most of them expe

Toni Bentley triumphs again

With an intimate knowledge of dance, keen eye for historical detail, enticing premise, and droll prose (many turns of phrase made me grin), Toni Bentley has taken what could have been a bone-dry, pedantic topic and infused it with wit, humor, and rigorous scholarship. The result: one smart, sexy book about four sexual rebels. Here's hoping the success of "Sisters of Salome" brings "Winter Season," Ms. Bentley's haunting memoir of her Balanchine dancer days, back in print.

Brilliant, fascinating book

A former Balanchine dancer becomes a writer, gets interested in the bizarre Victorian/Edwardian phenomena of "Salomania," and finds a willing publisher in one of the most prestigious presses in the world. Talk about dreamland. And the book is perfect. After you read the first ten pages, you will have trouble putting it down.Bentley moves swiftly from her own personal connections to her subject matter: dance, a poignant photograph of Colette, Balanchine's curious interest in Crazy Horse strippers, her own experiment in confrontational nudity. She writes a brief chapter on the historical and literary Salome that is, among other things, the most intelligent essay I've ever read on Wilde's play.She devotes a chapter each to the four centers of the fixation on Salome--Maud Allen, Mata Hari, Ida Rubenstein, and Colette--while providing a wealth of information on the changes in the history of dance between 1890 and 1920. And she finds in women's fascination with Salome a psychological core that is compelling and persuasive. This is an excellent book. Beautifully conceived, intelligently realized, well written, amusing and informative, it is a joy to read and recommend.

In a Different Voice

Okay, I?m not sure ANY text from this century deserves five stars, but I really do like this book. It is a must for anyone interested in female sexuality. It is well researched, well written, culturally literate . . . and it artfully dances the fine line between the scholarly and the saucy.The theme is controversial: The male gaze as a source of empowerment, emancipation, and female fantasy. We?ve heard this before, but now it is given more concrete and historical articulation. In the voice of Madonna, the theme sounds tinny and sophomoric. In the voice of Paglia, it sounds laden with muddled Freudianism. In Bentley?s voice, the point rings sincere, grounded, and seductive. It is dressed in four historical figures, all of whom come across as genuine heroes ? and genuine women ? and not as the pitiful victims or the cartoon deviants we would like to find behind the striptease. The research is both historical, literary, and biographical of course. But it is the small spark of autobiography that really lights a fire under the whole thing. It?s not a piece of erotica; the goal is not to arouse, but rather to describe, contextualize, and ultimately to justify a certain kind of erotic power. But neither is this Sir Kenneth Clark lecturing on the topic. This project would be a failure if it didn?t end up stirring the loins just a bit.Yes, very good stuff. I?m not sure what to conclude from all of this, to be honest. I?m curious to hear the reactions of women. GJ