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On Isadora Duncan
By Eliane Rose Coelho Zavala November, 2008

Isadora Duncan changed the history of dance forever. With a body of a dancer and a soul of an artist, Duncans unique and unusual approach to dance caught the attention of many during the exciting time period of the early 1900s. Duncan not only changed the way professional dancers would perform, but she was also a vehicle that embodied many other changes that went beyond the world of dance. Like a pebble that falls in a lake and ripples in all directions, Duncan, perhaps unintentionally, influenced a whole culture shift. Looking into Duncans works as well as her life, one can see the many ways she brought change into the world of dance and into social-political and historical context she lived in. Many changes were taking place in the world during the exciting 1900s such changes can be seen through the lens of artists, writers and dancers of the time. Naming a few, we have D. H. Lawrence and W. D. Howells, writers who focused on the changing roles on women in society. Women writers also became popular during this period like Gertrude Stein and Virginia Wolf. In the field of arts, women were first allowed to attend anatomy lectures in the National Academy of Design, thus giving them the opportunity to improve their draftsmanship. Emerson Boum helped promoting the works of women artists like Imogen Cunningham and Georgia OKeefe. The idea of shocking the world with new ideas and art was slowly being introduced to American culture. Duncans approach to dance and art was very much in line with her peers of the time, although the majority of society was caught off guard by these changes: Isadora, as Victorianism drew to a close, was needed as a dancer, as an artist, as a woman. It was her destiny to stir, to shock, outrage, liberate, inspire and illuminate while in pursuit of a dream which she achieved for others if not, ultimately for herself.(Terry 149) Being so articulate describing her provocative way of thinking, the young Isadora, only nearly twenty said: If the dance is not to come to life again as an art then far better that its name should rest in the dance of antiquityI am not at all interested in reforming anything. I am deeply interested in the question: Is the dance a sister art or no; and if so, how shall it brought to life as an art? (Duncan 47) Indeed, Isadora Duncan found her own unique way of bringing art to life in her dancing style, an especially controversial one at the time. She decided to ignore the strict rules of ballet all together, 1

Zavala rid herself of undergarments and toes shoes believing they were unnatural and restrictive. Better yet, according to Duncans point of view, undergarments and toes shoes were symbols of the repression women had endured under the rule of men and society. Again, in her own words, we hear about her relationship with formal dance: When the teacher told me to stand on my toes I asked him why, and then he replied Because it is beautiful, I said it was ugly and against nature, and after my third lesson I left his class, never to return. (Duncan 22) Her movements were free and fluid sweeping through the space in a new fashion never seen before and always accompanied by classical music. How did she come to be the revolutionary Isadora Duncan as we know her? Perhaps due to the circumstances in her childhood, the free-

spirited personality of Isadora Duncan had room to experiment with her own ideas in a non-traditional schooling system right at home under the very relaxed supervision of her mother. Either dancing about on the beach, or at home listening to classic masters that her mother would happily play on the piano; Duncan had the environment to flourish as an individual and as an artist. In her autobiography, she recalls: I watched the clock until the hand pointed to three, and we were free. My real education came in the evenings, when my mother played to us Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Mozart, Chopin, or read aloud to us from Shakespeare, Shelly, Keats or Burns. These hours were to us enchanted. (Duncan 15) Having such unusual upbringing compared to other girls of the Victorian age, it is no wonder that Isadora Duncan the free thinker, the visionary, the dancer, the feminist, the woman was little by little taking shape under her mothers care. One of those twists of fate that often happen in life, a personal crisis, in this case, the divorce of Isadoras parents, led her mother into disillusionment with the traditional role women had at that time, and eventually forced her to withdrawn from main stream society; therefore, the perfect stage for a star to be born was created! The soil was fertile, the seeds of imagination and curiosity had been sownthe nature of the genius came in and the rest is history as we know it. Regardless of the conditions in which the young Duncan was brought up, the way she reacted to them was the igniting force to her creativity. Duncans persistence, and the absolute faith she had in herself and on her artistic ideals guided her towards the grandiose path of her carrier. Many might have believed Isadora Duncan did not have discipline at all, not in her personal life, or in her dancing

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ideals. She discusses her search for the perfect dance, the dance of the soul as she would describe it: 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. For hours I would stand quite still, my two hands folded between my breasts, covering the solar plexus I was seeking and finally discovered the central spring of all movement, the crater of motor power, the unity from which all diversions of movement are born, the mirror of vision for the creation of dance. (Duncan 58) Duncan put tremendous amounts of energy and time into her dance, perhaps in a different manner than the followers of ballet would have done back then; a lot of her effort was within, while the virtuoso believers would put their efforts on the physical techniques of dancing. Duncans hunger for knowledge would induce her to a lot reading! Some of the many minds that influenced Duncans work are: Walt Whitman, F. Nietzsche, Ernst Halckel, Keats, Goethe and Rossetti. She also had the desire to lean more about music, which she considered to be the spring that propels dance. She attempts to explain her vision to her students: Listen to the music with your soul. Now, while listening, do you feel the inner self-awakening deep within youthat is the strength that your head is lifted, that your arms are raised, that you are walking slowly toward the light they understood. This awakening is the first step in dance, as I conceived it. (Duncan 59) Staying truthful to her aesthetical and philosophical ideals was not an easy task Isadora Duncan; even with the total emotional support of her family life was not easy. Her discipline and selfassuredness had guided Isadora Duncan, just as it had guided many other women into carving their space in society and to recover their discourse as an individual and as an artist. The Duncan family packed and left to Europe, all hoping for funding to support Isadoras ideals of a Dance School for children. Her memory of such struggles illustrates her life long attempts to have a school of dance. It was a difficult beginning: There were long days when we had not even the courage to go out, we sat in the studio wrapped in blankets, playing checkers on an improvised chequer-boad with piece of card board. (Kurth 57). The practical matters of living always can be a deterrent to a starving artist, no matter how talented one can be. However, Isadora had a very clear vision of what dance should be and nothing would keep her from achieving her goals, not the absence of funds nor the resistance she had 3

Zavala encountered in the puritan minded America. After having some dance opportunities in Europe,

Duncan was approached by an impresario that had heard of the barefoot dancer with Greek aesthetic appeal He made her an offer to be in a musical-hall show to which she mostly defiantly refused! Based on her personal convictions of art and dance, such offer was an insult! This offer was made right at her small shabby studio which reflected Duncans financial difficulties: Certainly not! responded Isadora in a rage! Her dance was not suited for a theater according to her own views. Can one grasp Isadora Duncans dancing ideals to which she hanged on so tightly? Even when faced with hunger, un-recognized as an artist and without the help of a known choreographer, Duncan continued to pursue her own vision and passion of dance. Her views of dance were absolutely clear to herself as she informed Mr. Daly, her agent, that she had discovered: the essence of dance. Looking back into the classical Greek art, Isadora saw beauty and simplicity as keys to any art form, but especially to dance, even more so to her dance. Trying to convince her agent of her potential, she passionately describes her vision: I have discovered the art which has been lost for two hundred years. You are a supreme theater artist, but there is one thing lacking in your theater which made the old Greek theater great, and this is the art of the dancethe tragic chorus. Without this it is a head and a body without legs to carry it on. I bring you the dance. I bring you the idea that is going to revolutionize our entire epoch. Where have I discovered? By the Pacific Ocean, by the waving pineforest of Sierra Nevada. I have seen the ideal figure of youthful America dancing over the top of the Rockies. The supreme poet of our country is Walt Whitman, I have discovered the dance that is worthy of the poem of Walt Whitman. I am indeed the spiritual daughter of Walt Whitman. (Duncan 28) Surely agents are used to hearing many passionate discourses from the artists they encountered daily; to such extent they actually became very cynical towards young, energetic artists. Mr. Daly was not any different, and at that point, he did not comprehend the genius in Duncan. A pantomime part was his offer to Isadora Duncan, even after her eloquent speech In need of money and exposure, Isadora Duncan took the part even though the whole thing seemed very stupid and unworthy of my ambitions and ideals. (Duncan 30). The shift in dance history was coming quite quickly, in fact, even though Isadora Duncan probably felt discouraged for not finding anyone in America who possibly could understand her aspirations. Along with the change in the course of Duncans personal story, dance was changing as well. What eventually became known as the Modern Dance was being created; Isadora Duncan though called it the Ancient Dance. The social 4

Zavala ramifications of such changes were quite remarkable, especially for the women at the time. Young

Isadora inadvertently changed women history along with the changes she was seeking in dance itself. Looking into the dance Isadora Duncan had so enthusiastically introduced to her agent and many others who had crossed her pass, the contemporary reader might not be impressed at all. One must keep the historical and social context of the time in mind to really appreciate Isadora Duncans revolutionary approach to dance:

The closing years of the Victorian Age presented a dance which was not seriously conspired an art. In Russia, Petipa was in his declining years and Fokine and Diaghileff had yet to merge. In London, at the Empire and Alhambra heaters, ballet extravaganzas, with masses of dancers and vivid scenic effects were enormously popular. In New York, ballet did its traditional chores and the variety stage housed hoofers, eccentric dancers. (Terry 148) Coming from the point of view that dance must express humanitys highest ideals and draw its moves from nature as its proper source, Duncan was indeed far ahead of her contemporaries. The very little theory she left behind is summarized in the booklet The Dance of the Future which she wrote in 1903. Keep in mind Duncans whole idea that dancing was based in individual expression and she actually discouraged her pupils to imitate her: Instead, she encouraged them into a search to find the inner emotion to express an idea. (Terry, 140). Such freedom of expression in her dance had created a problem when it comes to describing Isadora Duncans dance moves. One very rudimentary video of her dancing in a garden, a few drawings, some photographs and a very thin book written by Isadoras sister, Irma Duncan called The Technique of Isadora Duncan are very faint attempts to document Duncans dancing moves. Still, choreographers, students, dancers had tried and they continue to try to describe her dance. The basic main staple of her dance was based on the principles common to all human beings: walking, running, skipping, jumping, kneeling, reclining and rising. According Duncans sister, Irma Duncan, many had misunderstood Isadoras dance because Isadora herself was unable to teach others her method of movement. Once, during a class, Isadora did a very fast and intricate succession of movements; then she tried to slow down and show her 5

Zavala pupils the same sequencebut she could not do so. Duncan said then: How strange, I created, and I can dance it, but I cannot teach it! (Duncan Irma xii) In her book, Irma Duncan describes in detail the moves her sister had used in her classes; Irma hoped her efforts would preserve her sisters creations to future generations. While ballet movements were mostly limited to the legs and arms, which moved independently of the torso thus creating an illusion of aerial lightness, Duncans style used the whole body with fluidity, but always grounded, as described by Bohan: Her movements were more earthbound than ethereal and involved the whole body, not just the arms and legs. In lieu of the fanciful narratives common to the ballet, Duncan revived the ritualistic and religious focus of ancient dances. (Bohan 175) Even if many might see weaknesses in Isadora Duncans work, we must not deny the tremendous influence her work has had on all of those who were responsive to her dance. Dancers, who followed Duncan in history, like Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and Martha Graham, had the

opportunity to create their own particular imprint in Modern Dance because Duncan once first opened the door for change. Lori Belilove, a contemporary dancer and a Duncans follower, has been teaching and performing Isadora Duncans dances with much passion and dedication in San Francisco at the Isadora Duncan Dance Company. Even if so little documentation is available to continue Isadora Duncans dancing legacy, many people like Belilove try to recover the amazing work of Isadora Duncan, which just proves that the Duncans dancing style, as well as her powerful spirit is still very well alive and admired.

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Works Cited

Bohan, Ruth. Isadora Duncan, Whitman and dance. The Cambridge Companion to Walt Whitman. Ed. Greenspan Ezra Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995. 166-193. Copelan, Roger. Why women dominate modern dance Editorial. The New York Times 18 April 1982, pg 13A Duncan, Isadora. My Life .New York: Liverwrite, 1927. Duncan, Irma. The technique of Isadora Duncan. Brooklyn: Dance Horizons, 1970. Jeschle, Claudia., Vettermann, Gabi. Isadora Duncan, Berline and Munich in1906: just an ordinary year in a dancers career. Dance Chronicle Fall 2005:213-117. Kurth, Peter. Isadora: a sensational life. New York: Boni and Liverwrite, 1927. Loewenthal, Lillian. The Search for Isadora: the legend & legacy of Isadora Duncan. New Jersey: Princeton Book Company, 1993. Terry, Walter. Isadora Duncan: her life, her art, her legacy. New York: Dodd, mead & Company, 1963. Timbrell, Charles. Isadoras pianists. Ballet Review Winter 2007:84-86.

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