Born in California in 1877, Isadora Duncan is known as an important figure in both the arts
and history and became a huge influence on contemporary culture and dance.
As a young girl, Isadora loved to dance and at the age of nine she attended some ballet
classes. However, it did not feel natural to her, and she soon quit, finding the technique too
rigid. During her childhood, her family were struggling with poverty, so to earn some extra
money in their teenage years, Isadora and her sister Elizabeth, taught dance to local
children.
With a novel approach to dance, Isadora focused on a natural style that connected emotions and freedom of movement. She believed the development of her dance was a natural rediscovery of the classical principles of beauty, motion and form, insisting that each
movement was born from the one that preceded it, with each giving rise to the next.
This focus on natural movement included skipping, running, jumping, leaping and tossing.
She began developing her own choreography to Italian music with free-flowing costumes,bare feet and loose hair, inspired by classical Greek arts.
At the age of 18, Isadora travelled to Chicago, where she successfully auditioned for a place in Augustin Daly’s theatre Company. This took her to New York City, where she took some ballet classes with dancer/teacher, Marie Bonfanti. Disappointed by the ballet routine, she made the decision to move to London where she rented a studio, allowing her to further develop her work and create performances for the stage. A year later, at the age of 22, she travelled to Paris to continue to develop her art and delight her audiences.
In 1902, American dancer Loie Fuller, invited Isadora to tour with her. Within two years of
touring all over Europe, performing her own choreography, Isadora had achieved fame and
success. In 1905, she opened her first dance school in Berlin. Her sister joined her to train
young dancers who would eventually become a part of her performing Company.
In 1914, with the start of WWI, she returned to the United States and transferred her school there. Between 1916 and 1920, she toured across Europe and America, creating a sensation everywhere she performed.
She founded another dance school, this time in Moscow in 1921, in agreement with the
Russian Government. Her goal was to give her art in exchange for a free school and teach
1000 children. During this time, she achieved some of her biggest success, choreographing her classic piece, “The Revolutionary”.
Sadly, Isadora died as a result of an accident, at the age of 50. Her free-spirited nature
brought into being a totally new way to dance and her legacy lives on and continues to
inspire contemporary artists around the world today.
In 1980 the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation was founded in New York City to extend the
dream, dance and impact that Isadora had on audiences worldwide. The Isadora Duncan
Dance Company is the resident performing troupe, under the direction of artistic director, Lori Belilove, who was trained by first and second generation Duncan dancers who performed with Isadora and studied at her schools. The Company performs over 80 original dances, highlighting the unique qualities of Isadora’s choreography from the early lyrical pieces to the tragic solos.
Today her art continues as a classic contribution to the world of dance through the dancers
in her school and performing companies throughout the world.
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