Isadora Duncan was an American dancer. Born in California, she lived in Western Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death at age 50.
She developed a system of dance and plastic. Duncan was not just an actress or dancer. Her desires went much further than improving performance skills.
Duncan wrote that the new woman will reach a new intellectual and physical level: “If my art is symbolic, the symbol of this is only one: the freedom of women.” Duncan stressed that the dance should be a natural extension of human movement, emotions and reflect the character of the artist, dance has to become the language of the soul.
Duncan flouted traditional mores and morality. She alluded to her Communism during her last United States tour, in 1922–23; Duncan waved a red scarf and bared her breast on stage in Boston, proclaiming, “This is red! So am I!
In 1921, her leftist sympathies took her to the Soviet Union where she founded a school in Moscow.
She was a wife of Sergey Yesenin (one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century in Soviet Union) in 1922-1924.
Usually, describing this relationship, the authors note its scandalous love-side, but these was as well a creativity aspect of two artists being together.
Interested in her personality? Should watch the award-winning 1968 film Isadora, also known as The Loves of Isadora, stars Vanessa Redgrave as Duncan. The film was based in part of Duncan’s autobiography.
Photo: wikipedia.org