![]() Modern dance is distinguished by complete freedom of movement, and it was the first style of dance to be labeled as a “creative art.” Isadora applied the same approach to love as she did to dance. This radical fashion choice influenced many dancers who succeeded her. She helped free ballet from its conservative restrictions by liberating herself from modest attire and opting to wear free-flowing dresses and signature Grecian-inspired tunics. Her opinion that “any intelligent woman who reads the marriage contract, and then goes into it, deserves all of the consequences,” combined with the fact that she referred to her first experience of matrimony as “a highly overrated performance,” signified her aversion to monogamy. Her wild life and strong belief in free love and leftist politics contributed to her inveterate passion for living on the edge. Ironically, one eccentric scarf she fashioned would later become the very instrument of her unusual death. She was renowned for dancing with silk scarves enlacing her bare feet. Isadora’s opposition to the rigidity of classical ballet gave rise to her reluctance to perform wearing footwear. No longer at war with spirituality and intelligence, instead joining them together in glorious harmony. Isadora once stated, “The natural language of the soul is the movement of the body.” She longed to dance - not in the form of a nymph, nor fairy, nor coquette - but in the form of a woman in her purest expression. She preferred mostly-improvisational dances inspired by the world. A lifelong career in theatre using the “mechanical” imposition of ballet steps would’ve been a job she hated with a passion. However, her position there was short-lived. ![]() In 1986, the fledgling dancer secured her first legitimate job with a New York dance company, despite having no formal training. Between the ages of six and 10, Isadora commenced her creative career by providing dance lessons to many of the neighborhood children. Her mother was a piano teacher who consistently encouraged and fostered her daughter’s appreciation of the arts. Isadora was born in San Francisco, California in 1877. She was the epitome of the tragic romantic artist. She was committed to dancing a different dance through abstract, universal expressions of the human condition. Isadora’s dances derived from the impulse to embrace destiny head-on in her whirlwind journey, filled with tragedy and ecstasy alike. The development of her style of dance was a natural phenomenon, a rediscovery of the traditional principles of beauty, motion, and form. The “Mother of Modern Dance” was able to bring life to dance - and dance to life. Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) was arguably one of the most influential American dancers ever to have lived.
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