Dancing with snakes

One of the most unusual instructional dance DVDs I've seen has been produced by Serpentessa, a ritualist and performer who dances with redtail boa constrictors. In the instructional section of the three-hour DVD--Belly Dance with Snakes: Embody Your Inner Serpent--Serpentessa gives careful, detailed guidance. It's as important to respect the snake and become entrained with its rhythms and moves as to tune up your posture and avoid "duck-butt."

Dancing while a snake slithers around your arm, shoulder, neck and head in its continuous improvisation ain't easy. You have to be able to maintain the integrity of your movements while managing the snake's considerable weight and finely adjusting your balance as it adjusts its location. Serpentessa's snakes are very gentle, but they're wild animals, not theatrical props, and she never loses sight of that fact. I've seen her perform live; clearly, she has strongly bonded with her snakes, equal partners in her dancing. Her dance technique and aesthetics are impeccable.

The remaining time includes excerpts from performances, a montage of snippets from ceremonies and fanciful sequences, and a "relaxing meditation" which shows a tangle of snakes repeatedly sliding over boulders. There's a cloying atmosphere of oversell. Perhaps Serpentessa could have used this opportunity to focus more on why snakes have been such a potent, universal symbols of sensuality, healing and cyclical time and to share images from ancient and contemporary art. Nevertheless, when she attends to instruction, her DVD offers a serious, encouraging introduction for anyone drawn to this art and spiritual practice.

To learn more about this DVD, click here.