Song of Seduction
I watched the first four serpiente dancer's move like liquid honey across the dais, their bodies speaking of lust and fear. As beautiful as fire against an evening sky, they portrayed Maeve's seduction of Leben.
The drums beat out a thundering beat and the flute spun a web of mystery and wonder. Bright colors of silk spun before my eyes: deep blue, emerald green, garnet of the cobra, and gold of the hawk, leapt upon the dais, proclaiming mercy and cunning. As the singing wove with the moves, the words seemed to come from within the fire that pulsed with the drums, with a heartbeat of life and gave the scene a haunting aura while the flutes gave the stroke of a kiss upon the scenes. The words of the singers spoke of the fear the white viper, Maeve, felt and of the love that guided her and kept her going.
Take me by the hand, my lover, dear lover
Let me be swallowed in your water, drowned and frozen
Take me by the hand, my lover, dear lover
I suffer whilst I dream, forever dark and cold
Take me by the hand, my lover, dear lover
You are my pain, my pleasure
Take me by the hand, my lover, dear lover
Shall I drown, suffer, and be in pain?
Because of one love I could not gain?
The drums stilled as the flute continued and seemed to suddenly cry out to the sky, to give the impression of a weeping heart, as the singers' voices echoed across the dancer's nest. The part where Leben turned Maeve away and realized the truth of forced love, it just couldn't last. She pleaded with him still, but rejected him all the same.
No my thorn, my poison, don't take my hand and shower kisses upon my skin
Oh save me, someone save me from the agony of this love
Pleasure pleases me no more
Agony feeds upon me, fear has rooted inside me
A fear so deep it kills to live
The four dancers on the dais froze, hands crossed at the wrists and heads bowed in the symbol of prayer, still leaving an aisle in the middle. Two other dancers came from the shadows, one a female clad in a stunning white, silver coins tinkling at her waist as a belt, the other a male dressed in pants of black and a light cream shirt, golden coins clicking at his waist. The female swayed her hips arms up and moving with the slow beat of the drum, beckoning the man closer. The female offered her hand and as the man kissed her knuckles and palm, she arched her back, eyes close in seeming satisfaction. Suddenly the man recoiled and the drums quickened their pace like the beat of an angered heart. The man pushed her away and as the four dancers echoing chanting blended with the singers', they danced leaping and taking four scarves of their color, and wrapping and unwrapping them around the man and woman, so they seemed to be spirits of colored wind enfolding around the pair.
The singers picked up again with Maeve's final words to Leben. As the woman in white, touched the man's shoulder and as he faced her, the woman paused and waited for the song to slowly end.
Please, Leben, I know love cannot last, seduction seduces no more
But keep this in memory, clever Leben, when your serpiente dance:
They dance for love, for power and grace, dancing for freedom and peace
They dance for you and me, but most of all
They dance for the old, the young, for their children and for the future.
As the final trills of the flute echoed, the woman turned away from the man and the lights finally dimmed, signaling the conclusion of the performance on the dais.
And I remembered the dance even as I preformed it myself, now at the age of seventeen: Maeve's dance of seduction and of fear to Leben.
- Oliza Shardae Corbriana
Heir to Tuuli Thea of the Avian and Naga of the Sepiente
