François Esperet

« Be quiet and dance! », these few words are the last ones that Elektra says in the opera by Strauss and Hofmannsthal. They embody the power of dance, its vital strength, mystic and symbolic. When her brother Oreste has achieved their revenge by killing their mother Clytemnestre and her lover Egisthe, Elektra can only feel elated and victorious. No more talking, no other action to be taken but the dancing, the movement. As if dance was the best comment and the most perfect of all the conclusions, she invites everybody to join her and form a circle. The flood of energy is so strong that it kills her. But her dancing is joy, triumph and trance, probably madness too.