At the end of the19th century, Oscar Wilde’s Salomé opened to scandal and acclaim. Within a year, the Salomé craze had hit, and the American vaudeville circuit was full of them: dramatic Salomés, artistic Salomés, comic Salomés, often with rapidly disappearing costumes, waving their seven veils and fainting over papier-mâché heads of John the Baptist. To meet the new demand, a School for Salomés opened in New York and, by 1908, was turning out 150 hopeful Salomés per month.
All Salomé wanted was John, the aesthetic ascetic whose skin glowed white and whose eyes were pure and black and burning. When John rejects Salomé, she quickly learns to use her body to get what she wants.
And this is what we want: to get control, to use what we have to get what we want, to do our dance and feel powerful and visible and kinetic. This is why Salomé is our hero, our guide and our teacher. Our lives are full of addictions and cravings and aching and longing, and Salomé teaches us to take control. Salomé says:
1. Be proactive. Make a list of your attributes. How can you use them?
2. Make a list of goals, realistic and far-fetched. Can you achieve one today?
3. Admit you are powerless over this addictive behavior. How might you continue?
