Into the 1950s , London was still enthralled with Snake Dancing . Here ’ s a photo of Snake Dancer Thanya outside her performance space , the Cheltenham Opera House in Gloucestershire ( west of London ). Reproduced with permission of the University of Sheffield .
Sharifa , 1975
40 The Belly Dance Chronicles � September 2022
In both Northern and Southern California , the Renaissance Pleasure Faire of the 1970s were the next hotbeds of snake dancers , with two Middle Eastern dance companies led by two distinguished and acclaimed commanders . The Northern Faire presented Jamilla Salimpour with Bal Anat , and the Southern Faire featured Diane Webber with the Perfumes of Araby .
Of her experience as a Northern Faire snake dancer with Bal Anat , Sharifa shares “ I studied with Jamilla and she invited me to join Bal Anat . [ Within the show ] she had smaller groups that performed specialities . I said ‘ what would I be doing ?’ she said ‘ we need a snake dancer ’ and I said ‘ I ’ ll do it ,’ even though I did not have a snake at that time . One of the departing snake dancers instructed me , then I danced with two or three other snake dancers . We all had boas , between five and six feet … I was there through 1975 .” Sharifa ’ s photo of the era ( from the Archives of Sharifa Ohanesian ) shows her with Muhara draped on her head . She continues “ I brought this talent into my own troupe later . I had a thirteen foot python and it took three of us to dance with that ! We danced as a threesome with ‘ Julius Squeezer ’”. She referred to ancient snake dance rituals as evoking wisdom and intuition , to predict changes that were coming ; that in ancient times watching the snakes move one could tell when there was going to be change in the environment .