Isadora Duncan:
The mother of modern dance

Photo: Isadora Duncan

Photo: Isadora Duncan

As Viviana Durante Company prepare to pay tribute to the pioneering choreographer and dancer, Isadora Duncan, we learn more about her fascinating history and legacy as a feminist icon.

Born in San Francisco in 1877, Duncan started dancing at an early age but after a few ballet lessons aged nine, she declared it a school of ‘affected grace and toe walking,’ and quit to focus on developing her own art.

In 1902, her debut performance in Hungary was a sensation and was sold-out for 30 days. Shows across Europe followed, with a mixture of success and opposition to her new approach. But it didn’t faze her and by 1905 she had established her own dance school in Berlin, subsidised by her tours.

Her fresh new style eschewed the rigid discipline of ballet. She pioneered the idea of natural movement, and danced barefoot, dressed in short white tunics that shocked conservative society who thought women should dress modestly.

'Conformity was for other people...'

Viviana Durante Company in rehearsal.

Viviana Durante Company in rehearsal.

The forward thinkers of the day, such as Auguste Rodin, Michel Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Gertrude Stein loved her. But her alternative approach – and equally non-traditional personal life – drew criticism from those less open-minded. Not that she cared – conformity was for other people. She was fiercely independent at a time when society was intensely patriarchal.

Since her death aged 50, when her scarf became entangled in the wheels of a car in which she was a passenger, she has been recognised as the inventor of modern dance.

'She pioneered the idea of natural movement, and danced barefoot'

Viviana Durante Company in rehearsal

Viviana Durante Company in rehearsal

Photo: David Scheinmann

Photo: David Scheinmann

Photo: David Scheinmann

Photo: David Scheinmann

‘Isadora was an extraordinary person but we should remember her upbringing was important,’ says her great-niece, Dorée Seligmann, author of Life Into Art: Isadora Duncan and Her World. ‘Isadora’s mother had four children and all of them became artists in their own right. Their mother filled them with enormous confidence and showed them that the world was their stage. Isadora was the true genius of the family and this upbringing allowed her creative spirit to flourish. It gave her the ability to focus on her art and push boundaries without having to adhere to conventions.’

‘I think what was important and what enabled her to become the Isadora she became was that conventions were erased right from the start. She grew up without normal constrictions that allowed her to challenge constraints everywhere, because to her they were alien. That’s a family trait – it’s how I was brought up too.'

'Conventions were erased right from the start...'

Viviana Durante Company in rehearsal

Viviana Durante Company in rehearsal

It was this erasing of convention at a very early age that was key to Duncan becoming the person she was. Feminism was in its infancy at the time, but she came from the perfect background to step in as a leader not only in her art form, but socially.

‘Her concept of freedom of movement not only meant taking command of your own space but also your sexuality and agency,’ says Seligmann. ‘She ran her own finances, didn’t rely on any man, took on anyone she wanted as a lover. These things would later be used against her, as happens to so many powerful women.

‘She did what she wanted and didn’t suffer fools and didn’t care what people said or thought about her.’

Duncan is regarded as a touchstone for many young women, because she bucked the system and espoused the idea of ‘dress the way you want, live the way you want, don’t follow society’s rules’. ‘I don’t think there are many figures in history like that,’ says Seligmann. ‘My grandfather used to say Isadora had as much effect on modernity as Queen Victoria had on what preceded it.’

'She did what she wanted and didn’t suffer fools...'

Photo: David Scheinmann

Photo: David Scheinmann

Viviana Durante Company in rehearsal

Viviana Durante Company in rehearsal

Isadora Now : Triple Bill

Viviana Durante Company 21–29 Feb, Barbican Theatre

A remarkable evening of performance paying tribute to the American dancer Isadora Duncan, a timeless feminist icon who made work that enabled women to express themselves physically on their own terms.

With an all-female ensemble, Durante’s show celebrates one of Duncan’s biggest legacies – a freedom of movement and spirit that has inspired artists and thinkers everywhere – while introducing original dance profoundly influenced by that same revolution today. Featuring the rarely-seen Dance of the Furies, a new group piece by choreographer Joy Alpuerto Ritter set to specially composed live music by Lih Qun Wong and the technically demanding Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan by Frederick Ashton, performed by Durante in her first solo appearance for a decade.

Interview by James Drury.