The Gilded Serpent presents...
DeAnna Putnam
DeAnna Putnam first discovered belly dance while on a working vacation as a journalist in Lebanon. During her trip she met with local music promoters and a famous Lebanese dance choreographer amidst the growing nightclub scene in Beirut along the former Green Line, where the worst of the fighting was during Lebanon’s civil war. She came back to Boston, wrote an article for the Boston Herald on the post-war rebuilding of Beirut and promptly enrolled in belly dance classes.
In 2002, she traveled to Afghanistan and wrote about that country’s new health care system, which was featured with a spread of her photographic work in the MetroWest Daily News. She flew out of Kabul with the clothes on her back, her notes and camera, and a horde of Afghan Kuchi nomad jewelry.
DeAnna has performed at Boston-area nightclubs and restaurants including Sahara, Tangierino, Caprice, Sophia’s, Embassy, and La Boom. She currently is the instructor and choreographer for Brandeis University’s Belly Dance Ensemble. The ensemble offers three classes a week, has 200 student union members, a 21-member performing troupe, and four student administrators.
She originally studied under Melina, daughter of the infamous Rhea of Athens. She traveled with Melina to study and perform with Rhea in Athens, Greece in 2002 and 2003, and she danced with other Daughters of Rhea members in the opening act for Earth, Wind & Fire at the Hynes Convention Center in 2004 during the Big Brothers Association of Massachusetts Bay fundraiser, an event which has been named by the Boston Herald as Boston’s “Party of the Year.” Gastronomica: The Magazine of Food and Culture published her article “Opa! Belly Dancing and Greek Barrel Wine” about her experience in Greece in its Fall 2005 issue.
DeAnna has a bachelor’s degree in theology and philosophy from Boston College and a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
DeAnna Putman was at one time also known as Qan-Tuppin but she now no longer uses this name.
Web site: www.ontheraqs.com
Articles on Gilded Serpent by or about DeAnna Putnam
- 11-15-02 Dancing again in Afghanistan
As I had suspected, Afghan women belly dance - 2-14-03 God Belly Danced. Part 1: Biblical Accounts of Belly Dancing in the Ancient Near East
While Yahweh is not female, the man may have given Chavah a name similar to Yahweh because the woman and Yahweh had something vital in common - 3-13-03 God Belly Danced, Part 2: Biblical Accounts of belly dance in the ancient Near East
According to the Hebrew scriptures, female belly dancers were reputable and marriageable - 7-10-03 God Belly Danced, Part 3: Biblical Accounts of Belly Dance in the Ancient Near East
No character in the Bible has been so misunderstood as Salome. Critics condemn her as a wanton slut. Supporters embrace her as a symbol of oppressed female sensuality. Neither is true. - 5-15-06 God Belly Danced, Part 4: The Rise of the Pagan Anti-Belly Dance League
Dancing girls, wherever they came from, at this time apparently were luxury import items and thus were subject to a 25 percent duty tax, equal to that of precious gems. - 8-13-06 God Belly Danced, Part 5: Belly Dancers in the First Century Banqueting Tradition,
So, like in the Old Testament Book, belly dancing can at times be connected specifically with wine and viticulture
