Salem Shore is a solo modern dance work choreographed by Martha Graham to original music by Paul Nordoff.
[2] Clad in a plain dark dress, the soloist jumps in and out of the driftwood hoop, lifting her skirt and the letting it fall with a nervous plucking motion.
The New York Times critic John Martin described the dance as a "tender and poignant soliloquy" and Graham's acting skills "beautifully persuasive.
The New York Herald Tribune's Edwin Denby saw the dance of a reticent young woman "who remembers playing on the shore as a child, but knows now she is an adult.
Following her death, Terese Capucilli, Martha Graham Dance Company Principal, and Carol Fried, the troupe's rehearsal director, began collecting information: drawings, old photographs and written material, including notations made on Nordoff's score, in order to recreate the piece.
[9] On opening night, the actress Claire Bloom performed the part, which included motions in sympathy with the soloist as a kind of alter ego.