English

Alternative forms

• Dance of the Seven Veils
• veil dance

Noun

dance of the seven veils ‎(usually uncountable, plural dances of the seven veils)

1. (idiomatic) A striptease performance.
   • 2010, Ron S. King The Dreams of Neptune, ISBN 9781446657348, p. 143 (Google preview):

     And as for the next room, which was for the dances of the ‘Seven Veils’, I could not wait to see the mind-blowing performance! I joined the men in the queue and jostled my way into the room, seating myself on one of the rickety chairs.

   • 2010 May 30, Peter Rainer, "Sex and the City 2: movie review," Christian Science Monitor (US) (retrieved 27 Sep 2015):

     If King had any wit he would have included a scene where a burka-clad Samantha performs the dance of the seven veils for one of her many smitten studs.

2. (idiomatic, by extension) The incremental disclosure of tantalizing bits of information.
   • 2006 Dec. 5, Ron Elving, "Declaring for President is a Dance of Seven Veils," National Public Radio (US) (retrieved 27 Sep 2015):

     "Testing the waters" is a veil for what candidates do in the years when it's too unseemly to be seen actually running for president. . . . But this veil is dropped when candidate and handlers believe the coyness has begun to cloy. And then the candidate's dance of the seven veils has begun.

   • 2009 Jan 11, Simon Sebag Montefiore, "In Russia, Power Has No Heirs," New York Times (retrieved 27 Sep 2015):

     Mr. Putin’s succession and (likely) restoration is a leisurely dance of the seven veils in which one veil is dropped only for another to be donned.

   • 2015 Sept. 18, "Don’t panic about early city budget dance," Hamilton Spectator (Canada) (retrieved 27 Sep 2015):

     Every year around this time, staff and politicians take the first steps in the annual budget process — called the Dance of the Seven Veils in some quarters.

Synonyms

• (striptease): fan dance
• (incremental disclosure of information): fan dance