Isadora Duncan
1877-1927
Isadora DuncanDuncan was born may 26, 1877 in San Francisco and died on the 14 September, 1927 due to her scarf got catching the back wheel of a sports car she was riding in. Duncan was one of 4 children. Her parents divorce when she was a child and was raised by here mother, who was a piano teacher. Duncan’s brother, Raymond Duncan, and her studied greek mythology and visual iconography which helped her style of movement. Duncan studied ballet and burlesque. When Duncan was 6 she started teaching dance in to kids in her neighbourhood and When she was 10 her classes were very large and successful. Duncan choreographed her dances and performed them at wealthy peoples houses before she became widely successful. Duncan lived in Chicago and New York before she moved to the UK to further enhance her professional dance career. Her professional career started at Chicago, 1896, at the Daly Company. Duncan married Serge Yesenin in 1922 but unfortunately the marriage didn't last. Yesenin had metal heath issues and committed suicide in 1925. Duncan’s 2 children, Deirdre and Patrick, including her nurse drowned and died when the car that they were traveling in went over at bridge into Seine river in Paris, France. Duncan then adopted children Internationally. Duncan published her book, My Life, in 1927. Duncan viewed her dance style free flowing and feminine. She made a speech called dance of the future, where she talked about how future dance should be performed. She stated that “dance should be similar to the ancient greeks, natural and free. Duncan inspiration to create dance was to discover the beautiful, rhythmical motions of the human body’. She saw dance as an art form not a source of entertainment. Duncan founded dance companies in Russia and Germany. She founded her dance company, The Isadorables, which combined dance with other learning styles. After Duncan’s death 3 of her 6 adopted children continued to teach modern dance. Some of the roles Duncan played were a fairy in ‘Mid Summers night’ and she played a quartet girl in ‘The Giesha’. The main characteristics in Duncan’s dances was that the dancers danced barefoot. Her dancers also wore tunics because they freed the body and revelled movement emphasised and natural movement dance style. Her dance had movement such as hopping and skipping, free, flowing hands, lots of jumping, graceful turns, long extended arms and lots of walking and running. Duncan was referred by dance critics as ‘the mother of modern dance’. |