Salome

Salome is the story about the seductive young woman Salome, whose dance, sensuality and mythical power have inspired visual artists and poets throughout the times.

Oscar Wilde wrote his very provocative version of the Biblical story in 1891. His Salome was controversial. It was censored and denied staging in London because of its Biblical content mixed with Wilde’s lively imagination.

In the story about Salome, she and King Herod both are driven by their desires. He desires her, and she desires the pure, chaste John the Baptist. Salome, who lights a fire in almost all the men who looks at her, is being turned down by John, the only man who has ever awaken her lust.

Herod promises Salome she can have whatever she wants if she dances for him. After the dance she asks for something entirely different than what the king had in mind.