The Dutch dancer Mata Hari (alias Margaretha Geertruida Zelle) has achieved an iconic status within 20th-century dance history, partly due to her execution as a German spy in 1917. Although she lacked significant dance training, she successfully performed her works, primarily in eclectic oriental styles, before European audiences. My discussion considers Mata Hari’s contributions against the backdrop of the pre-WWI European dance scene. It specifically explores the ideological and aesthetic framework within which she was embedded as a female artist in the context of related concurrent dance trends. Drawing on feminist theories, orientalism and post-colonialism (Edward Said), the paper examines how Mata Hari’s on- and off-stage personae conformed to certain stereotyped images of women whilst al so subverting social conventions.
