The Biblical story of Salome, whose dance before Herod led to the beheading of John the Baptist, has been choreographed and danced in hundreds of versions during the past 85 or 90 years. From Loïe Fuller and Maud Allan at the turn of the century to Maurice Béjart and Flemming Flindt in our own time, important figures in modern dance have interpreted Salome and her story. Perhaps the most interesting, and certainly the most obsessive, involvement with the story was that of California choreographer Lester Horton.
Horton's creative imagination first went to work on Salome in 1934, when he was 28 years old; and he returned to the story again and again, at intervals, until the time of his death in 1953. What follows concerns itself primarily with this period of 19 years. Tracing the course of Horton's involvement with Salome, seeing what he made of her story in many different versions, may be interesting in itself. Doing so may also provide insights into the development of the art and craft of this important choreographer, because the story occupied his attention at so many points during his life-as-an-artist. Choreography outlives the choreographer; Horton's Salome survived Horton. The last section of this article surveys productions of the work in the years since 1953.