What a quote!

[Alexandra]

She definitely believed the American type COULD be dancers -- just not ballet dancers During her day, the ideal ballet dancer was short (by today's standards). Fashions change. There were many 18th and 19th century dancers who were criticized for being "too thin."

[Boots]

If I'm not mistaken, one of the items on exhibit in the "American Treasures" room at the Library of Congress is a set of early American films (or not really films, but bits and pieces of recorded stuff), which includes some footage of Isadora Duncan dancing (I'm not sure what the piece is, but I remember a sort of fairy or butterfly type costume with wings). It's worth checking out if you're in DC.

[rg]

this historic footage sounds more like a loie fuller imitator (perhaps an edison film) than duncan. to the best of my knowledge the only POSSIBLE duncan film footage is that of a woman in loose, grecian-styled draperies caught dancing at a garden party in england.

[atm711]

Perhaps Isadora'a spirit is embedded in American ballet. In 1934 Balanchine established his school in New York in Isadora's former studio. . . . . .

[glebb]

It's interesting to read her autobiography and remember through her language, that she was a Victorian woman.

[LMCtech]

Yes, exactly. And that is why she was so revolutionary. She refused to wear a corset, she thought that ballet steps were too confining and unnatural (she had a point there), and she reveled in nature. All ideas that were shocking in a woman.

I have seen restagings of her works by one of the groups in San Francisco. I can't speak on how accurate they were, but they were very beautiful, contemplative even, and very moving, espcially when you consider the time they were made. I have always admired her as a brave free-thinker and, yese, as the Mother of Modern Dance.

Interestingly enough, my college dance history class included a semester of study of non-Western dance and one starting with the French kings and the creation of ballet through the post-modern movement of the 1980's.

[glebb]

Isadora Duncan arrived in Russia (her first time) on January 6, 1905. This was the day after Bloody Sunday. She witnessed a funeral procession and "If I had never seen it, all my life would have been different. There, before this seemingly endless procession, this tragedy, I vowed myself and my forces to the service of the people and the down-trodden."

"The next day I received a visit from a most charming little lady, wrapped in sables, with diamonds hanging from her ears, and her neck encircled with pearls. To my astonishment she announced that she was the great Kschinsky. She had come to greet me in the name of the Russian Ballet and invite me to a gala performance at the opera that night. I had been used to receiving only coldness and emnity from the ballet in Bayreuth. They had even gone as far as to strew tacks on my carpet so that my feet were torn. This change in sentiment was both gratifying and astounding to me. That evening a magnificent carriage, warmed and filled with expensive furs, conducted me to the opera, where I found a first-tier box, containing flowers, bonbons and three beautiful specimens of the jeunesse doree of St. Petersburg. I was still wearing my little white tunic and sandals, and must have looked very odd in the midst of this gathering of all the wealth and aristocracy of St. Petersburg."

"I am an enemy to the ballet, which I consider a false and preposterous art-in fact, ouside the pale of all art. But it was impossible not to applaud the fairy-like figure of Kschinsky as she flitted across the stage, more like a lovely bird or butterfly than a human being."

[glebb]

"Some days later I received a visit from the lovely Pavlowa; and again I was presented with a box to see her in the ravishing ballet "Gisele". Although the movement of these dances was against every artistic and human feeling, again I could not resist warmly applauding the exquisite apparition of Pavlowa as she floated over the stage that evening."

[Paul Parish]

Dear Glebb, Thank you for posting those quotes from Isadora -- it's very touching, to see how she's not going to give up her principles, but, though she can't account for how it can be, she's got to admit that those 2 ballerinas were ravishing.... and it's great to see that the admiration was mutual.....

[Alexandra]

Thanks, Glebb (there are days when Kschessinska is my absolute favorite ballerina. She probably announced herself as "the great ballerina, Kschissinska," too.) I love these stories. You can imagine Isadora sitting there, thinking, "i hate it i hate it i hate it wow, how lovely no i hate it, i hate it -- ooh! butterfly" And, best of all, as far as I know she didn't change one aspect of her art because of it. They do what they do, I do what I do -- A LESSON FOR ALL DANCERS OF TODAY

[grace]

i am really quite struck by the tone of this thread, which SEEMS to imply that americans don't know that much about isadora, and don't regard her as important in their dance history. am i getting the wrong impression?

i certainly grew up (in australia) knowing about her - just as much as about pavlova or fonteyn - as one of THE MOST highly significant figures in the development of dance.

is that not how americans see her?

i would have thought that, because she was american, you would have regarded her part in dance history with even more respect than 'the rest' of us...:confused:

[Alexandra]

Grace, I think you've misread. Yes, Americans (those who care anything about dance) do know quite a bit about Isadora. The original question was not posed by an American.