Former snake dancer Glenda Kemp now boogies in Bethal
The irony of Glenda Kemp being know as the snake dancer, is the fact that she does not like snakes. Now at 70 she has a new life and yes, she can still boogie.
BETHAL – Ms Glenda Harper (70), internationally known as Glenda Kemp the snake dancer, is now a reborn Christian.
Ms Harper said: “I am not ashamed of my past. I have been set free. I am very proud of what my Lord has done for me and I have no doubt that I have been saved.”
Her daughter is a speech therapist and was placed at Bethal Hospital to do her practical year.
Ms Harper and her daughter decided to move to Bethal for the time being.
As a child, she loved to pretend that she was performing and would stand in front of the record player and dance as she got lost in the music.
Her mother would let her be and go to town, when she returned she would still be dancing.
“I had a vivid imagination. Many times I would simply drift along as the main character in a princess story.”
She did not have what you can call a happy childhood.
Sexually abused by her stepfather, humiliated by teachers and later dropped off at an orphanage, were just some of the battles she had to fight.
Animals also helped her to escape reality
She loved animals since she was a child.
The irony of Glenda Kemp being known as the snake dancer, is the fact that she does not like snakes.
“My brother Dale took on the hobby of keeping a snake as a pet and that is how I encountered snakes. I never actually liked snakes. You cannot have a relationship with a snake.
“People might like snakes, but snakes will never like people. No snake is going to come slithering in haste, wagging anything in joy at the prospect of meeting its owner. The feeling was mutual between the snakes and I.”
All of her shows had to have a story and she wanted to do something that would ‘shock’ her spectators, but also intrigue them. That is when she began to dance with the python named ‘Oupa’.
In her book, Glenda Kemp Snake Dancer, she tells tales of hilarious moments with ‘Oupa’, but also devastating ones.
Since she moved to Bethal she did not want to sit in the house and do nothing.
“You get lonely and bored just sitting at home. My gift is dancing and I have danced so many years, now I only dance to praise the Lord. I love dancing and acting.”
She makes up her own little stories while she dances.
Her ‘shows’ now consist of her dancing and performing her testimony.
One of her other testimonial dances is of a puppet.
She pretends to be a puppet that is touched by God and set free and can move freely.
“I came up with the idea of the ‘puppet show’, because when you do not know God, you are like a mannequin in the window being controlled by the world.”
Yes, she can still boogie at the age of 70.
She went to Palmoord old age home where she began a group called ‘Kleipotte’.
They dance together only to gospel music and Ms Harper shows them moves they are able to do.
“People who feel that they want to be joyful in the Lord can come and join us. They do not have to be able to dance, I will show them where to put their feet.”
Ms Harper invites everyone to come and join in her dance group.
Her plan is to put a concert together and show people that they can do anything they put their mind to.
She is willing to give and dance her testimony at churches or other gatherings.
Should you like to invite her, you can contact her at 083 623 8216.
