FLOWING FREE

Isadora Duncan, Library of Congress (image).

Isadora Duncan will always be remembered from her free-flowing display of choreography, fashion and the scarfs she often wore around her neck. This dance pioneer was born in 1877 and became popular in dance during the early 20thcentury. Though she grew up in San Francisco, California she chose to move to Europe in her late teens to study her love for ballet, music, and art. In the early 1900’s her style of dancing was her infatuated by art, Greek God’s and classical music mixed with a modern style of moving. Many believe she was inspired by the world of the social and political revolution that led to the soviet union.  The development of her art form represented freedom and classifies her as a feminist for women. In 1927, Duncan died tragically from having her neck broken by one of her long scarfs that got caught in the moving wheel of the car.

I chose a video from YouTube that is a great replication of Duncan dancing. The dance is set to music that was originally written by Schubert is 6 Moments, Op. 94, D. 780: No. 3 in F Minor.

At the opening, there are strong prance steps with the arms flowing upward and downward. The choreography is free-flowing, full of movement which makes soft shapes of the arms and body. The movement shows the study of ballet by the carriage and the port de bras of the arm. Expressions of modern movement with deliberate prance jumps, and parallel passes are reminiscent of a Native Indian, Pow Wow dance. The picture of Greek and Renaissance statues is vivid through the shapes and poses of the choreography. The forward balance’ pattern is done in a series of threes which flows into two sets of low, spiral attitude turns matches the easy breeze of the flowing costume. The energetic tempo and structured style of choreography express an equal amount of adventure, playfulness, and liberation.

Dance & Democracy: Politics & Protest, World War I Through the Cold War. Library of Congress. Webcasts. March 8, 2012. https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=5611

Dancing: The Individual and Tradition. Documentary. (1993). Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company. 2018. https://search-alexanderstreet-com.library.esc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C443960

Sylviagold1. Isadora Duncan Dancers. Performing Company. YouTube. (Dec 12, 2009). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq2GgIMM060