[2] The idea for a "dance concerto" was proposed by Louise Kain, a patroness of the arts and a board member of the Louisville Philharmonic Society.
[2] Taken from the deuterocanonical books of the Bible (Apocrypha), the ballet is a dance dramatization of the story of Judith, the Hebrew widow who saves the city of Bethulia by seducing and beheading the invading Assyrian tyrant Holofernes.
[13] Graham designed a series of costumes for the 1950 solo to convey Judith's transformation and evolving state of mind.
[14] Noguchi's three-legged balsa wood set consisted of stylized weapon-like elements, two crossed pieces resembling spears and an arrow-shaped member, supporting a fourth horizontal component evocative of an open-mouthed viper.
[9] The thick coil that makes up Judith's bracelet is also serpentine in nature, while the headpiece suggests rams' horns.
Time and Newsweek, as well as the New York and local papers ran feature articles on Graham and Schuman's achievement.