Isadora Duncan

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Isadora Duncan

Duncan

1906–1912

Born

Angela Isadora Duncan

May 26, 1877

, California,

U.S.

Died

September 14, 1927 (aged

50)

, France

Citizenship

American, French, Soviet

Known for

and

Movement

Spouse

(

1922

;

sep.

1923

)

Partner(s)

Children

Relatives

(brother)

(sister)

Signature

Angela Isadora Duncan

(May 26, 1877, or May 27, 1878

– September 14,

1927) was an American-born dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of

modern contemporary dance and performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and

the United States. Born and raised in California, she lived and danced in

Western Europe, the U.S., and

from the age of 22. She died when

her scarf became entangled in the wheel and axle of the car in which she was

travelling in

, France.

Early life

[

]

Angela Isadora Duncan was born in San Francisco, the youngest of the four

children of Joseph Charles Duncan (1819–1898), a banker,

and

connoisseur of the arts, and Mary Isadora Gray (1849–1922). Her brothers were

and

;

her sister,

, was also a

Soon after Isadora's birth, her father was investigated and

charged

[

]

following the collapse of the family’s bank, which

coincided with a larger reorganization of San Francisco’s finances, a period

of crushing reversals and closing of silver mines.

Although the jury voted

for his acquittal,

Isadora's mother (angered over his infidelities as well

as the financial scandal) divorced him, and from then on the family struggled

with poverty.

Joseph Duncan, along with his third wife and their daughter,

died in 1898 when the British passenger steamer

ran aground off the

coast of

After her parents' divorce,

Isadora's mother moved with her family to

, where she worked as a seamstress and piano teacher.

Isadora attended school from the ages of six to ten, but she dropped out,

having found it constricting. She and her three siblings earned money by

teaching dance to local children.

In 1896, Duncan became part of

's theater company in New York, but she soon became disillusioned with the

form and craved a different environment with less of a hierarchy.

Work

[

]

Photo by

Duncan performing

during her 1915–1918 American

tour

Isadora Duncan #29

, one of

many works of art she

inspired

Duncan's novel approach to dance had been evident since the classes she had taught as a

teenager, where she "followed [her] fantasy and improvised, teaching any pretty thing

that came into [her] head".

A desire to travel brought her to Chicago, where she

auditioned for many theater companies, finally finding a place in Augustin Daly's

company. This took her to New York City where her unique vision of dance clashed with

the popular pantomimes of theater companies.

While in New York, Duncan also took some

classes with

but was quickly disappointed by ballet routine.

Feeling unhappy and unappreciated in America, Duncan moved to London in 1898. She

performed in the drawing rooms of the wealthy, taking inspiration from the Greek vases

and bas-reliefs in the

The earnings from these engagements enabled

her to rent a studio, allowing her to develop her work and create larger performances

for the stage.

From London, she traveled to Paris, where she was inspired by the

and the

and danced in the salons of

and

In France, as elsewhere, Duncan delighted her audience.

In 1902,

invited Duncan to tour with her. This took Duncan all over Europe as she created new works using

her innovative technique,

which emphasized natural movement in contrast to the rigidity of traditional ballet.

She spent most of the rest of her life touring Europe and the Americas in this fashion.

Despite mixed reaction from

critics, Duncan became quite popular for her distinctive style and inspired many visual artists, such as

, and

, to

create works based on her.

In 1910, Duncan met the occultist

at a party, an episode recounted by Crowley in his

Confessions

He refers to Duncan as "Lavinia King", and used the same invented name for her in his 1929 novel

(written in

1917). Crowley wrote of Duncan that she "has this gift of gesture in a very high degree. Let the reader study her

dancing, if possible in private than in public, and learn the superb 'unconsciousness' – which is magical

consciousness – with which she suits the action to the melody."

Crowley was, in fact, more attracted to Duncan's

bohemian companion Mary Dempsey (

a.k.a.

Mary D'Este or Desti), with whom he had an affair. Desti had come to Paris in

1901 where she soon met Duncan, and the two became inseparable. Desti, who also appeared in

Moonchild

(as "Lisa la

Giuffria") and became a member of Crowley's occult order,

later wrote a memoir of her experiences with Duncan.

In 1911, the French fashion designer

rented a mansion –

– and

threw lavish parties, including one of the more famous

grandes fêtes

La fête de Bacchus

on June 20, 1912, re-creating

the

hosted by

at Versailles. Isadora Duncan, wearing a Greek evening gown designed by Poiret,

danced on tables among 300 guests; 900 bottles of champagne were consumed until the first light of day.

Opening schools of dance

[

]

Anna, Lisa and Margot,

Duncan disliked the commercial aspects of public performance, such as touring and

contracts, because she felt they distracted her from her real mission, namely the

creation of beauty and the education of the young.

[

]

To achieve her

mission, she opened schools to teach young girls her philosophy of dance. The first

was established in 1904 in

, Berlin, Germany. This institution was in

existence for three years and was the birthplace of the "

" (Anna, Maria-Theresa,

Irma,

(Gretel),

Lisa, and Erika

), Duncan optimistically dreamed her school would train “thousands of young

dancing maidens” in non-professional community dance.

It was a boarding school that in addition to a regular

education, also taught dance but the students were not expected or even encouraged to be professional dancers.

Duncan did not legally adopt all six girls as is commonly believed.

Nevertheless, three of them (Irma,

Anna

and Lisa

) would use the Duncan surname for the rest of their lives.

After about a decade in Berlin,

Duncan established a school in Paris that soon closed because of the outbreak of

Duncan

1916

–1918

In 1914, Duncan moved to the United States and transferred her school there. A

townhouse on

in New York was provided for its use, and its studio was

nearby, on the northeast corner of

and

(now Park Avenue

South).

, the head of

, gave Duncan use of the very

modern Century Theatre at

and

for her performances and productions, which included

a staging of

that involved almost all of Duncan's extended entourage and friends.

During her time in

New York, Duncan posed for studies by the photographer

Duncan had planned to leave the United States in 1915 aboard the

on its ill-fated voyage, but historians

believe her financial situation at the time drove her to choose a more modest crossing.

In 1921, Duncan's leftist

sympathies took her to the

, where she founded a school in Moscow. However, the Soviet government's

failure to follow through on promises to support her work caused her to return in 1924 to the West and leave the school

to her protégée and adopted daughter, German-born Irma Doretta Henrietta Erih-Grimm Duncan (1897—1977).

In 1924,

Duncan composed a dance routine called

Varshavianka

to the tune of the Polish revolutionary song known in English as

Philosophy and technique

[

]

Duncan in a Greek-inspired pose and

wearing her signature Greek tunic. She took

inspiration from the classical Greek arts

and combined them with an American

athleticism to form a new philosophy of

dance, in opposition to the rigidity of

traditional ballet.

Breaking with convention, Duncan imagined she had traced dance to its roots

as a sacred art.

She developed from this notion a style of free and

natural movements inspired by the classical Greek arts, folk dances, social

dances, nature, and natural forces, as well as an approach to the new

American athleticism which included skipping, running, jumping, leaping, and

tossing.

[

]

Duncan wrote of American dancing: "let them

come forth with great strides, leaps and bounds, with lifted forehead and

far-spread arms, to dance."

Her focus on natural movement emphasized

steps, such as skipping, outside of codified ballet technique.

Duncan also cited the sea as an early inspiration for her movement,

and she believed movement originated from the

Duncan placed an emphasis on "evolutionary" dance motion, insisting that each movement was born from

the one that preceded it, that each movement gave rise to the next, and so on in organic succession. It is this

philosophy and new dance technique that garnered Duncan the title of the creator of modern dance.

Duncan's philosophy of dance moved away from rigid

and towards what she perceived as natural

movement. She said that in order to restore dance to a high art form instead of merely entertainment, she strove to

connect emotions and movement: "I spent long days and nights in the studio seeking that dance which might be the

divine expression of the human spirit through the medium of the body's movement."

She believed dance was meant to

encircle all that life had to offer—joy and sadness. Duncan took inspiration from ancient Greece and combined it with

a passion for freedom of movement. This is exemplified in her revolutionary costume of a white Greek tunic and bare

feet. Inspired by Greek forms, her tunics also allowed a freedom of movement that corseted ballet costumes and

did not.

Costumes were not the only inspiration Duncan took from Greece: she was also inspired by ancient

, and utilized some of its forms in her movement (as shown on photos).

Personal life

[

]

Children

[

]

Duncan with her children Deirdre

and Patrick, in 1913

Duncan bore three children, all out of wedlock. Deirdre Beatrice was born September

24, 1906. Her father was theatre designer

. Patrick Augustus was born

May 1, 1910,

fathered by

, one of the many sons of

magnate

. Deirdre and Patrick both died by drowning in 1913; while out

on a car ride with their nanny, the automobile accidentally went into the

Following this tragedy, Duncan spent several months on the Greek island of

with her brother and

sister, then several weeks at the

seaside resort in

with actress

In her autobiography, Duncan relates that in her deep despair over the deaths of her children, she begged a young

Italian stranger, the sculptor

, to sleep with her because she was desperate for another child.

She

gave birth to a son on August 13, 1914, but he died shortly after birth.

Relationships

[

]

Duncan and

in 1923

When Duncan stayed at the Viareggio seaside resort with Eleonora Duse, Duse had

just left a relationship with the rebellious and epicene young

. This fueled speculation as to the nature of Duncan and Duse's

relationship, but there has never been any indication that the two were involved

romantically.

Duncan was loving by nature and was close to her mother, siblings and all of her male and female friends.

Later on,

in 1921, after the end of the Russian Revolution, Duncan moved to Moscow, where she met the poet

, who

was eighteen years her junior. On May 2, 1922, they officially married, and Duncan took Soviet citizenship. After that

Yesenin accompanied her on a tour of Europe and the United States. However, the marriage was brief as they grew apart

while getting to know each other. In May 1923, Yesenin returned to Moscow. Two years later he was found dead in an

apparent suicide.

Duncan also had a relationship with the poet and playwright

, as documented in numerous revealing

letters they wrote to each other.

In one, Duncan wrote, "Mercedes, lead me with your little strong hands and I will

follow you – to the top of a mountain. To the end of the world. Wherever you wish."

However, the claim of a purported relationship made after Duncan’s death by de Acosta (a controversial figure for her

alleged relations) is in dispute.

Friends and relatives of Duncan believed her claim is false based on

forged letters and done for publicity’s sake.

In addition, Lily Dikovskaya, one of Duncan’s students from her

Moscow School, wrote in

In Isadora’s Steps

that Duncan “was focused on higher things”.

Later years

[

]

A portrait of Duncan in

1922 by dancer

By the late 1920s, Duncan, in her late 40s, was depressed by the deaths of her three young

children. She spent her final years financially struggling, moving between Paris and the

Mediterranean, running up debts at hotels. Her autobiography

My Life

was published in 1927

shortly after her death. The Australian composer

called it a "life-enriching

masterpiece."

In his book

Isadora, An Intimate Portrait

, who met Duncan in the last years of her life, described her

extravagant waywardness. In a reminiscent sketch,

wrote how she and her husband, author

, sat in a Paris cafe watching a somewhat drunken Duncan. He would speak of how memorable it was, but all

that Zelda recalled was that while all eyes were watching Duncan, she was able to steal the salt and pepper shakers

from the table.

Death

[

]

Duncan's tomb at

On September 14, 1927, in

, France, Duncan was a passenger in an

automobile owned by

, a French-Italian mechanic. She wore a long,

flowing, hand-painted silk scarf, created by the Russian-born artist

, a

gift from her friend Mary Desti, the mother of American filmmaker

Desti, who saw Duncan off, had asked her to wear a cape in the open-air vehicle

because of the cold weather, but she would agree to wear only the scarf.

As they departed, she reportedly said to

Desti and some companions, "

Adieu, mes amis. Je vais à la gloire!

" ("Farewell, my friends. I go to glory!"); but

according to the American novelist

, Desti later told him that Duncan's actual parting words were,

"Je

vais à l'amour"

("I am off to love"). Desti considered this embarrassing, as it suggested that she and Falchetto were

going to her hotel for a tryst.

Her silk scarf, draped around her neck, became entangled in the wheel well around the open-spoked wheels and rear

axle, pulling her from the open car and breaking her neck.

Desti said she called out to warn Duncan about the scarf

almost immediately after the car left. Desti took Duncan to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

noted in its obituary, Duncan "met a tragic death at Nice on the

". "According to

dispatches from Nice, Duncan was hurled in an extraordinary manner from an open automobile in which she was riding and

instantly killed by the force of her fall onto the stone pavement."

Other sources noted that she was almost

decapitated by the sudden tightening of the scarf around her neck.

The accident gave rise to

remark that "affectations can be dangerous".

At the time of her death, Duncan was a Soviet citizen. Her will was

the first of a Soviet citizen to undergo

in the U.S.

Duncan was cremated, and her ashes were placed next to those of her children

in the

in Paris.

On the headstone of her grave is inscribed

École du Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris

("Ballet School

of the Opera of Paris").

Works

[

]

Duncan, Isadora (1927)

"My Life"

#941

(Canada) :

, HTML

Duncan, Isadora; Cheney, Sheldon (ed.)

The Art of the Dance

. New York: Theater Arts, 1928.

(Canada)

Legacy

[

]

Duncan as a fairy in

A Midsummer

Night's Dream

, 1896

Duncan is known as "The Mother of Dance". While her schools in Europe did not last

long, Duncan's work had an impact on the art and her style is still danced based

upon the instruction of

Anna Duncan,

and Irma

Duncan,

three of her six pupils.

Through her sister, Elizabeth, Duncan's approach

was adopted by

from Prague where her legacy persists.

By 1913

she was already being celebrated. When the

was built, Duncan's likeness was carved in its

over the entrance by sculptor

and included in painted

of the nine

in the auditorium. In 1987, she was inducted into the

Anna, Lisa,

Theresa and Irma, pupils of Isadora Duncan's first school, carried on the aesthetic and pedagogical

principles of Isadora's work in New York and Paris. Choreographer and dancer

was also instrumental in

furthering Duncan's work through the formation of the Duncan Dance Guild in the 1950s and the establishment of the

Duncan Centenary Company in 1977.

Another means by which Duncan's dance techniques were carried forth was in the formation of the Isadora Duncan

Heritage Society, by Mignon Garland, who had been taught dance by two of Duncan's key students. Garland was such a fan

that she later lived in a building erected at the same site and address as Duncan, attached a commemorative plaque

near the entrance, which is still there as of 2016

. Garland also succeeded in having San Francisco rename an alley on

the same block from Adelaide Place to Isadora Duncan Lane.

In medicine, the Isadora Duncan Syndrome refers to injury or death consequent to entanglement of neckwear with a wheel

or other machinery.

Photo gallery

[

]

Photographic studies of Isadora Duncan made in New York by

during her visits to America in

1915–1918

In popular culture

[

]

Duncan has attracted literary and artistic attention from the 1920s to the present, in novels, film, ballet, theatre,

music, and poetry.

In literature, Duncan is portrayed in:

(as 'Lavinia King'), published in 1923.

(1940) and

(1941), the first two novels in his Pulitzer Prize

winning

series.

's novel

Isadora

(2017).

, in which two characters are named after her,

and

The poem

Fever 103

, in which the speaker alludes to Isadora's scarves.

Among the films and television shows featuring Duncan are:

In 1965, a youthful Isadora Duncan was portrayed by Kathy Garver in the television show

The 1966

by Ken Russell,

, which was introduced by

Duncan's biographer,

, Duncan was played by

The 1968 film

, nominated for the

, stars

as Duncan. The film was based

in part of Duncan's autobiography. Redgrave was nominated for the

for her

performance as Duncan.

In 1976,

parodied Isadora Duncan in a

Great Moments in Herstory

sketch during Season 1, Episode

15. Hosted by

, the skit featured Clayburgh as Duncan and

in a comedic retelling of the

dancer’s tragic demise, exaggerating the absurdity of her fatal scarf accident.

Archival footage of Duncan was used in the 1985 popular documentary

A 1989 documentary,

Isadora Duncan: Movement from the Soul

, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1989

In 2016,

portrayed Duncan in

, a French biographical musical drama of dancer

In the 2025 animated dramatic comedy

the dog belonging to Shira and Kendra is named the Undeniable

Isadora Duncan

Ballets based on Duncan include:

In 1976

created a short ballet entitled

, in which "Ashton fused Duncan's style with an imprint of his own";

claimed after seeing

it that it was exactly as she remembered Duncan dancing.

In 1981, she was the subject of a

, written and

by the

, and performed at

On the theatre stage, Duncan is portrayed in:

A 1991 stage play

When She Danced

about Duncan's later years, won the

for

as Best Actress.

Duncan is featured in music in:

recorded a track titled Isadora Duncan with the

for the album

Cross Over

released in

1979.

Rock musician

included a song about Duncan on his debut album

Little

song "Jeremy" on their second album

refers to Duncan and her "impossibly long

white scarves."

Post-hardcore band

's 2009 album Oneonethousand features a track titled "Isadora Duncan". The lyrics

include references to a letter Duncan wrote to poet Mercedes de Acosta and her reported last words of "Je vais à

l'amour."