The female body on the dance floor : reclaiming power from the dance floor in Mark’s Herodian daughter

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.