The Dance of the Seven Veils is Salome's dance performed before King Herod Antipas, in modern stage, literature and visual arts. It is an elaboration on the New Testament story of the Feast of Herod and the execution of John the Baptist,which refers to Salome dancing before the king, but does not give the dance a name.
The name "Dance of the Seven Veils" originates with the 1893 English translation of Oscar Wilde's 1891 French play Salome in the stage direction "Salome dances the dance of the seven veils". The dance was also incorporated into RichardStrauss's 1905 opera 'Salome'.
In the 1953 film 'Salome', Rita Hayworth performs the dance as a strip dance. She stops the dance before removing her last veil when she sees John's head being delivered on a platter, as she did not want him to be killed in this versionof the story.
