![]() ![]() There were also rumors about her alleged homosexuality, but there was no evidence to prove it. She had many lovers, some of them quite famous. That’s why Isadora decided to ignore the obstacles she faced and went on to be a single mother of two sons. Not only was she irreverent in the dance world, but her personal life was full of scandals as well, at least for the standards of her time. However, in no time she sparked admiration in experts and critics. A revolutionaryĪs you’d might expect, people often criticized her in the early years of her career. Tutus, veils, and rigid movements from classical dance were left behind. She improvised and came up with movements during every performance. She also let her hair loose and danced to the rhythm of arrangements that weren’t made for dancing. Her previous experience and these observations shaped her style, which changed the history of dance forever.ĭuncan then started to go on stage barefoot and with a Greek-style gown. She adopted some of the postures she saw in sculptures into her dance routines. Isadora dedicated lots of time to visiting great European museums, and especially admiring Greek art. Thus, the Duncan family settled in London and, later on, in Paris. She convinced her family to go with her, even when, back then, migration happened the other way around: people from Europe migrated to the United States. Perhaps it was her admiration for European classical music that encouraged Isadora Duncan to travel to Europe. Her father, who had never gone back to the family, tragically died in 1898 in a shipwreck. In the Big Apple, young Isadora Duncan managed to find a job at a theater company. But a fire broke out in their house, leaving them homeless, so they had to move again, and this time they decided to go to New York City. Later, the family moved to Chicago, where Isadora studied classical dance. Thus, when Isadora was only 10 years old, she decided to leave her studies in order to work at the school with her brothers, teaching young children to dance. ![]() The two older siblings worked as dance instructors at their mother’s school. The family went through a tough financial situation, so Isadora’s mother started teaching piano lessons in order to cover the expenses and, later on, she founded a dancing school. She was the last of four children, and, sadly, her father left the family when she was very young. Her father, Joseph Charles, was a loan officer and her mother, Mary Isadora Gray, a music teacher. Finally, Duncan's contribution to the founding and development of modern dance as an alternative theatre dance genre to ballet is characterised and her overall contribution to the evolution of Western theatre dance stated.Her real name was Angela Isadora Duncan, and she was born in San Francisco, California, on May 27th, 1877. Her allegiance to a classical Greek-derived set and costume, preference for the music of the Romantic classical composers as accompaniment, commitment to an eclectic range of subject matter (with particular emphasis on socially relevant themes) and her pursuit of a harmonious, lyrical style are identified and discussed as crucial elements in Duncan's overall vision of dance as expression. ![]() Her reverence of the body and all "natural" phenomena, her confident relocation of the body "centre" along with her willing acceptance and exploitation of gravitational forces are seen to be fundamental factors in her work. Duncan is found to have made several important innovations. Fourthly, the results of the analysis are studied in conjunction with Duncan's own writings. Thirdly, a choreographic analysis is carried out on Duncan's oeuvre. ![]() These first two stages provide the documentary basis for the study, generate the descriptive source materials from which it is possible to gain access to Duncan's choreography and promote the discussion of the contexts of her life and the influences upon her work. Secondly, a chronology and two choreochronicles are presented. Firstly, a comprehensive collection of written, visual and aural materials is collated. A specifically devised methodology is employed which, in its successive stages, compensates for the lack of extant Duncan dances and allows the discussion of her work to be undertaken. On the basis of a working hypothesis, that Duncan had a consistent set of values which underpinned her work and were manifest in her choreography, Duncan's life and work is examined and her particular innovations identified. Isadora Duncan (b.1877 d.1927) is acknowledged as one of the main founders of the modern dance theatre genre yet her choreography per se is both unresearched and generally dismissed. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |