A stage show where hissing is welcomed

There must be a fraternity of folks who’ve suffered from herpetologically induced breakdowns -- freakouts from snake encounters -- since the coldblooded creatures have been a source of fear and loathing ever since Adam and Eve. For San Francisco-based composer-snake-dancer Jim Berenholtz, however, snakes not only symbolize a life force but, he says, serve as co-choreographers in a dance-music spectacle he wrote and produced, “Temple of the Cosmic Serpent.”

Thursday night through Sunday, this reptilian extravaganza featuring a woodwind quartet, 24 dancers and an equal number of boa constrictors and pythons (measuring from 1 to 14 feet; the biggest tips the scales at a bone-crushing 80 pounds) will be playing in Hollywood to benefit several charities, including the international human rights organization Global Exchange. In fact, it was partly inspired by the neo-Maya architecture of the Lloyd Wright Sowden House. Built in 1926 by the son of Frank Lloyd Wright and currently owned and occupied by designer-developer Xorin Balbes, the 6,000-square-foot manse will also serve as a backdrop for the show.

“Whether looking at DNA or galaxies, we can see spiraling patterns or wavelike motions,” says Berenholtz, 46, who earned a degree in ethnomusicology from Amherst College and has traveled to numerous sacred sites with Balbes. “The snake is a symbol from nature, and I saw those forms in the architecture of Xorin’s house. The stonework has vinelike patterns crawling up the walls that look like serpents.”

To Berenholtz, whose fascination with snake-based rituals dates to his youth, even the house’s roof resembles a rattler’s tail. As for the process of theatricalizing ritual, Berenholtz believes he is on, well, equal footing with the snakes. “Doing ritual dance as an interspecies art form, I’ve had live cobras around my neck.”

And the cobra’s choreographic contribution?

“In performance,” he says, “the snakes use our bodies like the limb of a tree to hold on, to have some stability. They have body intelligence to know to do this. Sometimes, when you have the snake around your neck, the snake will start to go up or down. You have to adapt your movement to the snake -- you become an extension of their body. You can’t fight them. You have to work with them.”

Besides the snakes (Berenholtz chauffeured 10 of them down from the Bay Area), the production includes the work of choreographers Bruce Biada and Ken Roht, who is also directing. Half the dancers are local; the others are members of Berenholtz’s 4-month-old dance troupe, Serpentium.

One of the latter is Elizabeth Moriarty. She has an 8-year-old, 10-foot albino Burmese python that weighs 25 pounds, and their relationship, she says, is a close one. “I spoon and snuggle with her in my bed. She bit me once, and my feelings were hurt. If she could talk, I think she’d tell me I need a boyfriend.”

Michael Silverblatt, host of KCRW’s “Bookworm,” will give a pre-performance talk Friday about serpents in literature. His take on the primordial scene? “It’s astonishing to be near the snakes,” he says. “Our ability to accept something alien is an index of our ability to cohabit in the world.”

At the Sowden House, “Temple of the Cosmic Serpent” will unfold in different areas, including the roof, Balbes’ bedroom and the swimming pool, where Roht has choreographed an Esther Williams-like water ballet. The show, which runs 80 minutes and features eye-popping macaw feather headdresses, is also sprinkled with a narrative culled from several languages.

Says Berenholtz: “We create an experience for the audience that they’d otherwise have to travel to Egypt or the Yucatan to see. The beauty is that the snake is an animal that has been misunderstood and feared.

“It’s about being able to move through the fear and become comfortable with it.

“There’s an amazing awakening and primal energy involved, which I feel is the basis of healing.”

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‘Temple of the Cosmic Serpent’

Where: 5121 Franklin Ave., Hollywood

When: Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 6 p.m.

Price: $100

Contact: (323) 908-6464