More topics related to family life on the website Isadora Duncan – a talented American dancer – was born on May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 in San Francisco. She was an unruly child and her mother, who raised her three siblings on her own, apparently sent her to school a year earlier. For this purpose, she falsified Isadora’s date of birth in the documents, so to this day it is not certain when she was actually born. Isadora did not intend to study, she preferred to dance. It quickly turned out that she was extremely talented, but her mother could not afford dance lessons. Isadora, then nine years old, decided she had to take matters into her own hands and started giving lessons to children from wealthy homes.
She created her own dance style
When she was 21, she started dancing in Augustin Daly’s dance company. However, she quickly realized that it was not for her, because there she could only learn classical dance forms, and they did not interest her at all. She did not agree to the lack of freedom in dancing and the norms that limited the possibilities of expressing herself through this form. Eventually, she managed to save enough money to open her own dance studio, where she could hone her extremely innovative style. In 1902, she met Loie Fuller – a pioneer of modern dance at that time. Under her influence, Isadora’s dance crystallized and caused quite a sensation among viewers in the following years.
She shocked not only with her movements on stage
It is easy to guess that the innovative form of dance had to be accompanied by the appropriate appearance of the dancer. There was no way she could dance in ballet flats that deformed her feet, “regulatory” clothes that restricted her movements, and a tight bun on her head. This went against her philosophy of dance, which was supposed to be free and natural. So she went on stage barefoot with loose hair, and often danced in comfortable tunics made of airy fabrics. At her performances, viewers accustomed to certain rules on stage were sometimes shocked.
The tragic death of Isadora Duncan
The dancer was about 45 years old when she had to accept the fact that her career was slowly coming to an end. It wasn’t that her physical condition did not allow her to perform, but her style, which was considered revolutionary a dozen or so years earlier, was already outdated after World War I. The dancer’s unusual dance technique and appearance no longer aroused so much interest and did not shock. Especially since younger and more tempting dancers appeared on the stage, such as the topless Josephine Baker. Isadora did not live to see old age when she could fondly remember her glory days and miss performing on stage. On September 14, 1927, while she was in the south of France, she was invited for a drive and got into an Amilcar sports convertible. Isadora was wearing a silk scarf. Not just any one – hand-painted by Roman Chatov – a Russian artist. Unfortunately, the scarf got caught in the unprotected wheels of the vehicle, tightened around the dancer’s neck and broke her spine.
Source: Gazeta
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