Abstract:
Using dance perspective and Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial ambivalence theory, this
study re-reads the events that occurred during the banquet at Herod’s house. Unlike
previous perspectives that focuses on the gruesome murder of John by Herod, the study
focuses on the banquet that resulted in the young girl to dance to the point whereby,
having been intoxicated and greatly amused, Herod asks the girl what she can have as
a reward. By intersecting the female body that culturally signifies gender inferiority to
its ambivalence as a subject of attraction and pleasure, I develop the hypothesis that
the body through its dance regained its power by becoming a somewhat equal patron;
negotiating its rights and being the source of an alternative and yet subversive power.
Instead of the female body being a source merely of the male’s gaze and pleasure, it
attained agency and power.
