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From Salem Shore to " Suite" from Alceste (10 works)
- Salem Shore
- 1943
Performed to music by Paul Nordoff, Salem Shore premiered on December 26, 1943, at New York's 46th Street Theatre. The dance was described as "A Ballad of a woman's longing for her beloved's return from the sea." The costumes were designed by Edythe Gilfond, and the set was created by Arch Lauterer. The off-stage reader was Georgia Sargent, Graham's sister. New York Herald Tribune critic Edwin Denby (December 27, 1943) noted, "It is not at all the wildly dramatic number one might expect, it is a discreetly poignant piece."
- Salutation
- 1936
Performed to music by Lehman Engel, Salutation premiered on April 7, 1936, at Philharmonic Auditorium, Los Angeles. The solo work was performed by Martha Graham. Graham created other choreographies called Salutation, including a work set to music by Arthur Honegger (originally called Prelude to a Dance, 1930) and another piece to music by Carlos Chávez (originally called Prelude, 1932).
- Scene Javanaise
- 1926
Performed to music by Louis Horst, Scene Javanaise premiered on May 27, 1926, at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. The original cast included Graham with Evelyn Sabin, Thelma Biracree, Betty Macdonald, Jean Hurvitz, Harold Kolb, and Robert Ross. The May 29, 1926, Democrat (Rochester, NY) noted that the costumes were "barbaric and bizarre."
- Scherza
- 1927
Performed to music by Robert Schumann, this work was presented by Graham at a special recital for the Cornell Dramatic Club on December 10, 1927. The program was billed as the Adolph Bolm Dance Recital and included Ruth Page, Vera Mirova, Bernice Holmes, Marcia Preble, and Graham.
- Scherzo
- 1926
Performed to music by Felix Mendelssohn, Scherzo premiered on November 28, 1926, at New York's Klaw Theatre. The cast included Betty Macdonald, Evelyn Sabin, and Rosina Savalli. Dance Magazine (May 1927) described the performance "as sportive a thing as ever."
- Serenade
- 1931
Performed to music by Arnold Schoenberg, Serenade premiered on December 6, 1931, at New York's Martin Beck Theatre. The solo work was performed by Martha Graham. In reviewing a later performance, the Daily News (Greensboro, North Carolina) noted that the work was "exceptionally good."
- Sketches from the People
- 1929
Performed to music by Julien Krein, Sketches from the People (also known variously as Sketches and Sketches of the People) was divided into three sections, "Monotony," "Supplication," and "Requiem." The work premiered on April 14, 1929, at New York's Booth Theatre, danced by the Graham's Group. The performance of April 14, 1929, marked the debut of Graham's concert ensemble, known as Martha Graham and Group. The New York Herald Tribune (April 15, 1929) noted, "The feature of the evening, however, was the group, and it is increasingly borne in upon at least one spectator of the dance's progress that in the plastic molding of massed ensemble lies the brightest promise of this art's future eminence." The review concluded that Graham's work for the ensemble had "written a new page in the history of choreographic eloquence."
- Spires
- 1927
Performed to music by Johann Sebastian Bach, some dance historians have noted that Spires premiered on October 16, 1927, at New York's The Little Theatre. However, Spires is not listed on that program nor is it mentioned in any of the reviews. There was, in fact, another work on the program called Choral, also set to music by Bach. It is possible that the two titles are the same choreography. There may have been earlier documented performances of a work called Spires; however, according to materials held in the Library of Congress' Martha Graham Collection, Spires was first performed on April 14, 1929. The cast included Rosina Savelli, Evelyn Sabin, and Betty Macdonald. The New York Herald Tribune (April 15, 1929) noted that Spires was "a very beautiful spiritual composition."
- A Study in Lacquer
- 1926
Performed to music by Marcel Bernheim, A Study in Lacquer premiered on April 18, 1926, at New York's 48th Street Theater. The solo work was performed by Martha Graham and was part of her first independent concert. In discussing Oriental-inspired dances for an article by Frances McClernan Kemp in Dance Magazine (May 1927), Graham noted, "We cannot…duplicate the oriental dance. We can only duplicate--in our way--the feeling of that dance--its spirit, its shadow. The oriental dance is a ritual; it is the religious expression of a race flowing through the soul of the dancer. She is part of it; it is what she is and all that she believes."
- "Suite" from Alceste
- 19
Performed to music by Christoph Willibald Gluck, "Suite" from Alceste premiered on May 27, 1926, at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. The original cast included Graham with Thelma Biracree, Evelyn Sabin, Betty Macdonald, Jean Hurvitz, Robert Ross, Harold Kolb, Harold Conkling, and Henry Riebeselle.On August 20-21, 1926, and November 28, 1926, the work appeared as "Prelude" from Alceste, performed by Martha Graham, Evelyn Sabin, Betty Macdonald, and Rosina Savelli.
In praising the performance, the Democrat (Rochester, NY) of May 29, 1926, noted, "The women revealed last night the imagination and instinct for graceful pose that must be added to technical skill in this difficult art…they have been taught the essentials of bodily grace and muscular control, they have been taught that even a motionless pose, or even a prostrate figure may have beauty and meaning… as much must be said for the young men dancers." In an interview with Graham for Dance Magazine (March 1927), Frances McClernan Kemp asked, "The prelude from Alceste-- [is] a sarabande movement within a Greek tragedy. How would [you] dance this anachronism?" Graham replied, "But it will not be a sarabande. It will be the shadow of the sarabande--the spirit that lies beneath the formal pattern of the old dance. One cannot hope, to reproduce a dance that is of another country, or another age. To do so would merely be imitation."