Name: Isadora Duncan
Age: 50 years
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California, USA
A place of death: Nice
Activity: American dancer
Family status: was married
Isadora Duncan - biography
The name of the American dancer is known to everyone in Russia. First of all, because she was the wife of Sergei Yesenin. But the life of this outstanding personality is interesting in itself. No wonder she attracted different time writers and directors.
Isadora Duncan - early years
Isadora's childhood was unhappy. Her father went bankrupt and left the family before the birth of the future dancer. Joseph Duncan left his wife and four children without any means of support. Little Isadora was sent to school at the age of five. WITH early years she felt like an outsider among her peers. Her classmates lived in prosperous families, Isadora’s mother believed that material values have no meaning.
And although, in a sense, the woman in whose life art played an important role was partly right, she made her daughter’s life unbearable by giving her complete freedom and independence too early. Isadora was thirteen years old when she decided not to attend school anymore, because she was sure that classes there were nothing more than a useless pastime.
Isadora and Aphrodite
After dropping out of school, Isadora began self-education. She was seriously involved in music and choreography, but she did it solely for own system. Later, when she became a famous dancer, when asked who her teacher was, Duncan answered: “Aphrodite!”, which greatly surprised reporters. In fact, Isadora was fascinated by ancient Greek culture all her life, although this did not prevent her from being interested in modern art.
Chicago
At the age of eighteen, Isadora decided to conquer the American public, and therefore went to Chicago. In this city she began an affair with one of her admirers. Her chosen one was a poor married Pole named Ivan Miroski. Romantic story ended very sadly, which marked the beginning of a series of hopeless failures in his personal life. There was never happiness in her life. Duncan's biography includes such sad facts that it seems surprising to remember the memories of eyewitnesses who spoke of this woman as a very cheerful and extremely enthusiastic person.
Isadora's dance
Duncan always insisted that the art of dance should be based on naturalness, reflecting the feelings and emotions of the performer. Her ideas were not only innovative, but came into sharp conflict with classical ballet school. Although, it is worth saying that the outstanding ballet dancer Anna Pavlova reacted very favorably to the American dancer’s style of performance during Duncan’s first trip to Russia.
Isadora Duncan's first performances took place during social parties. Rising star was popular among representatives of the American high society. She was a kind of addition to sophisticated entertainment, a fashionable curiosity. Isadora, as you know, danced exclusively barefoot, not recognizing pointe shoes.
Greece
Thanks to her popularity, Isadora significantly improved her financial situation. And soon, together with her family, she was able to fulfill an old dream, namely, to make a pilgrimage to Greece. Along the streets modern Athens The Duncans walked around in sandals and tunics, bringing local population at a loss. In Greece, Isadora began construction of a temple and selected boys whose singing subsequently accompanied her performances.
Isadora Duncan - biography of personal life
Isadora Duncan and Oscar
After bad story with a married Pole, a bright and handsome artist appeared in Duncan’s life. Isadora first saw him on theater stage, performed by Romeo. And therefore, in the future, she called Oscar Berezhi (that was the name of her new lover) exclusively by the name of the Shakespearean hero. But Duncan was unable to connect his life with him either: the actor chose a career. Then in the life of an outstanding dancer there was little-known writer. However, these relationships were platonic in nature and could not develop into something serious.
Craig and Isadora Duncan
Isadora called him Teddy. This man was a talented theater director, and he played an important role in Duncan's life. Their happiness was not unconditional. Craig had to constantly solve Duncan's financial problems, who not only did not like to save, but from her youth to last days I spent my life throwing money away. Even when she found herself on the brink of poverty. The actor, moreover, had other women, which Isadora tried to look at with understanding, since she believed that freedom was above all. From Craig, Isadora had a daughter, whom she had long dreamed of. However, Craig's wife was, nevertheless, his longtime beloved Elena.
Isadora Duncan in Russia
During her first trip to St. Petersburg, Duncan gave several concerts. In Russia she became friends with outstanding personalities in the world of art. First of all, these were Anna Pavlova and Konstantin Stanislavsky. The famous theater figure openly admired Duncan's talent, and an affair almost began between them. However, Stanislavsky's views on the relationship between a man and a woman differed significantly from Isadora's views. He did not recognize unlimited freedom and did not understand Duncan's frivolity.
Isadora Duncan and Eugene Singer
Isadora nicknamed this man Lohengrin. He was a millionaire, the son of the founder of a huge sewing machine business. Singer until the end of her days Duncan supported her financially and always remained her faithful friend. From him the dancer gave birth to a son.
Isadora Duncan - Children
In 1913, a tragedy occurred in Duncan’s life that her mother could hardly survive. Shortly before this, she was troubled by terrible visions. During her stay in Russia, she seemed to constantly hear a funeral march. After returning from St. Petersburg, she went to Paris with her children. Singer was waiting for them in the French capital. One day, after a festive evening at a restaurant, Isadora sent the children home with the governess in a taxi. During the trip, the engine stalled and the driver got out to check the car. Suddenly the car started working... They were passing a bridge. The car with the governess and children went straight to the Seine.
Isadora never recovered from this grief. Much later, when she became the wife of a Russian poet, a close friend wondered why she forgave her young husband so many scandalous, unjustifiable antics. One day Duncan said to her, “Don't you see? He looks so much like Patrick." Patrick was the name of Duncan's dead son, a boy with golden curly curls.
A great dancer who loved speed and driving fast? This will be discussed in an article that reveals a certain mystical role of the “iron horse” in her life.
short biography
Irish by nationality, the future reformer of choreography was born in large family in San Francisco (USA). This happened on May 27, 1877. The correct pronunciation of her first and last name is Isadora Denkan, but in Russia a different reading of them has become established. The story of Isadora Duncan is an example of serving the main passion of life - dance, which brought her world recognition. Leaving school at the age of thirteen, she headed to Chicago, where she performed in nightclubs from the age of 18. An unusual costume (Greek chiton) and amazing plasticity, destroying all the canons of classical dance, made her famous.
The dancer began to be invited to social parties, where she created a real sensation, performing barefoot, which was unusual for that time. In 1903, she successfully toured Budapest with a solo program, and in 1904, together with her older sister, she opened her own dance school in Germany. The famous dancer visited Russia several times: in 1905, 1907 and 1913. In 1921, the People's Commissar of Education invited her to open a choreographic school in the capital, promising financial assistance.
Dancer Isadora Duncan: the men in her life
An amorous, freedom-loving woman loved many men, preferring to live in luxury and glory. But she was not truly happy with any of them. At the age of 18, she almost married a Pole, Miroski. The devoted fan turned out to be married, and this unsuccessful romance began a series of bad luck in her relationships with men. She was engaged to the talented actor Oscar Berezhi, who chose a career over family life. At 29, she gave birth to a daughter from the modernist director E. Craig, but he decided to return to his former lover. Then millionaire P. Singer, the son of an outstanding inventor, appeared in her life.
Isadora Duncan, whose cause of death is discussed in this article, became a mother for the second time, giving birth to a boy from her loved one. But this relationship was soon destroyed. The reason was Isadora’s jealousy and freedom-loving disposition, who did not want to give up art and flirting with men.
Death of children
From childhood, the woman lived in anticipation of trouble. Before her birth, her father abandoned the family, leaving four children with her mother. In 1913, in Russia, Isadora began to have terrible visions, and a funeral march was constantly in her ears. She left with her daughter and son for Paris. The visions stopped, and one day, reassured, she sent both of them by car to Versailles, accompanied by a governess. On the way, the engine stalled, and the driver left the car to investigate the problem. But she started moving, sliding straight into the Seine. Daughter Diedra and son Patrick drowned in the river.
The answer to the question of how Isadora Duncan died will not be complete without understanding the scale of the tragedy that occurred in her life. Outwardly maintaining her composure, she nearly lost her mind and threw herself into the river while walking along the beach. The young Italian who saved her became the father of her child, born in 1914. But the baby died immediately after birth.
Meeting with Yesenin
A tired forty-three-year-old woman tried to lose herself in her work, planning to open a dance school in Moscow and living in the requisitioned apartment of the ballerina Ekaterina Geltser. In October 1921, at the artist Yakulov's, Isadora Duncan, whose cause of death would excite the whole world, met with Yesenin, the bohemian poet of post-revolutionary Russia. Not knowing the language, she listened to the music of his poems, realizing that before her was a genius. In turn, admired by her dance, the young rake knelt down and heard her say with an accent: “Golden head.”
Love-passion consumed both. Soon Sergei Yesenin had already moved into the apartment of his lover, who persuaded him to go on tour to the USA and Europe. To obtain permission to leave, the couple registered their marriage in 1922. The age difference was 17 years, but by the age of 26, the metropolitan poet was already fed up with life and often spent time in a drunken stupor.
Official marriage
Their union was the only registered marriage of the dancer, which became fatal for both. On tour, Isadora was received with delight, especially at home - in the USA. Russian celebrity no one knew, despite her attempts to organize poetry readings. Homesickness, a feeling of loneliness and wounded pride were doing their job. Sergei Yesenin increasingly appeared on the pages of newspapers thanks to scandals and brawls, during one of which Isadora was forced to contact the police. The husband was sent to a psychiatric clinic.
In 1923, the couple came to Russia. The foreign honeymoon completely upset the relationship. Isadora returned to Paris, where her husband sent a telegram that everything was over between them, he loved another and was happy. Two years later he would be found hanged in the St. Petersburg Angleterre Hotel. How did Isadora Duncan die?
last love
At the peak of her popularity, the dancer adopted six students, but this did not stop her from experiencing a passion for men until the end of her days. One of the last lovers was pianist Viktor Serov, half the age of his passion. She was driven by jealousy and even contemplated suicide, but, according to friend Mary Desty, at 50 she became quite happy with Benoit Falchetto.
It was to him that she addressed the last note left on the door hotel room September 14, 1927. Another concert awaited her in Nice, to which she took her famous red scarf. With him in Russia she danced to “The Internationale”, and one of the enthusiastic spectators was V. Lenin. Saying that she was on the way to her glory, the woman took the rear passenger seat of the Amilcar, and the owner of the Falchetto garage took the driver's seat. What happened next and how did Isadora Duncan die?
Ridiculous death
Getting into accidents many times, the dancer was forced to change four cars during her tour with Yesenin alone. But she still put her life in danger, demanding breakneck speed from the drivers. Falchetto was an experienced driver, so there were no signs of trouble. Mary Desty, seeing off a friend, noticed how the fringe of the shawl began to drag on the ground in the immediate vicinity of the rear wheel. She wanted to scream, but didn't have time. Twisted with its knitting needles as it moved, the scarf drove Isadora's head into the side. The tension of the tissue fractured the woman's spine and tore her carotid artery. Her death was instant.
The driver could not understand why the engine was malfunctioning, and continued to press the gas pedal for several seconds. At this time, his great companion was already dead. The killer car was sold for a fantastic sum at that time - 200 thousand francs. Thousands of people came to the funeral at the Père Lachaise cemetery to say goodbye to their beloved, who passed away so tragically. For Russians, the great dancer is, first of all, Yesenin’s wife. After the death of her husband, Isadora Duncan renounced all copyrights to his works in favor of her mother and sisters and gained respect for her noble deed.
Isadora Duncan's life promised to be unusual from the very beginning. In her autobiography, she says this about her birth: “The character of a child is determined already in the womb. Before my birth, my mother experienced a tragedy. She could not eat anything except oysters, which she washed down with ice-cold champagne. If they ask me when I started dancing, I answer - in the womb. Perhaps because of oysters and champagne."
Salvation is at work
As a child, Isadora was unhappy - her father, Joseph Duncan, went bankrupt and ran away before she was born, leaving his wife with four children in her arms without a means of support. Little Isadora, who, having hidden her age, was sent to school at the age of 5, felt like a stranger among her prosperous classmates. This feeling, common to all Duncan children, rallied them around their mother, forming the “Duncan clan,” challenging the whole world.
At the age of 13, Isadora left school, which she considered completely useless, and took up music and dancing seriously, continuing her self-education.
At the age of 18, young Duncan came to conquer Chicago and almost married her admirer. It was a red-haired, bearded forty-five-year-old Pole, Ivan Miroski. The problem was that he was also poor. And in addition, as it turned out later, he is also married. This failed romance marked the beginning of a series of failures in her personal life that haunted the dancer throughout her life. Duncan has never been completely, unconditionally happy.
Isadora insisted that dance should be a natural continuation of human movement, reflect the emotions and character of the performer, and the impulse for the appearance of dance should be the language of the soul. All these ideas, innovative in nature, naturally came into conflict with the ballet school of that time. A harsh assessment of the ballet itself, however, did not prevent Duncan from admiring the grace and artistry of two Russian ballerinas - Kshesinskaya and Pavlova. Moreover, with the latter they later even became good friends who sincerely appreciated each other’s talent.
The dancer's performances began at social parties, where she was presented as a piquant addition, an exotic curiosity: Isadora danced barefoot, which was new and quite shocked the audience.
The tour significantly improved Duncan's financial situation, and in 1903 she and her family made a pilgrimage to Greece. Dressed in tunics and sandals, the eccentric foreigners caused quite a stir on the streets of modern Athens. The travelers did not limit themselves to simply studying the culture of their beloved country; they decided to make their contribution by building a temple on Kapanos Hill. In addition, Isadora selected 10 boys for the choir, which accompanied her performances with singing.
Meetings and separations
Following the married Miroski, a man appeared who remained in her memory and autobiography as Romeo. Spring, Budapest and him, Oskar Berezhi, a talented actor and passionate lover, engagement and meeting his family - it all seemed like a fairy tale. And fairy tales, as you know, tend to end - Bereji chose a career over Isadora. The engagement was broken off.
The next intermediate character was Henrik Thode, a teacher and writer, again married. Their relationship was purely platonic; this romance was not destined to become anything more. Because Craig showed up.
Gordon Craig, a talented theater director, Teddy, as Isadora called him, occupied a huge place in her life. And, as always, happiness was not unconditional. From the very beginning, they called their love “fake”, emphasizing its
mentality, - Craig rushed from one lover to another, torn between confused financial affairs Isadora and her own creativity, for which there was less and less time left. And at the same time, they were madly in love and overwhelmed each other with mountains of letters and tender notes when they were apart.
And Diedra appeared, the girl whose birth Isadora had so dreamed of. The great dancer was 29 years old. This was followed by Craig's marriage to Elena, an old lover with whom he was bound by these obligations. Isadora was incredibly jealous and ashamed of her jealousy. Even in early childhood, using the example of her father, she realized that love cannot be eternal. Another proof of this was the break with Craig.
At the end of 1907, Duncan gave several concerts in St. Petersburg. At this time she became friends with Stanislavsky. Seeing how much he admired her, Isadora couldn't resist trying to turn it into something more. She describes this episode in her autobiography: when she once kissed him on the lips, “he looked terribly surprised... looking at me, he exclaimed in horror: “But what are we going to do with the child?” “Which child?” - I asked. “Ours, of course.” I burst out laughing, and he looked at me sadly and left.” However, this incident did not destroy their friendship.
Isadora was still lonely. One day, when she was sitting in the theater dressing room, a man with curly blond hair and a beard, stately and confident, came in to her. “Paris Eugene Singer,” he introduced himself. “Here he is, my millionaire,” flashed through Isadora’s mind. Unpaid bills always threw the wasteful and eccentric dancer out of balance. And there were a lot of bills. Isadora, who was so needy as a child, loved to live luxuriously. And a wealthy admirer came in very handy. Lohengrin, as Duncan called him, was the son of one of the inventors of the sewing machine, who inherited an impressive fortune. Isadora became attached to him, they traveled a lot together, he gave her expensive gifts and surrounded her with the most tender care. From Lohengrin she had a son, Patrick, and she felt almost happy. But Singer was very jealous, and Isadora was not going to completely give up the independence she had acquired through such hard work and not flirt with other men; besides, she constantly emphasized that she could not be bought. One day they had a serious quarrel, and, as always, when she love relationship cracked, she completely immersed herself in work.
In January 1913, Duncan went on tour to Russia. It was at this time that she began to have visions: she either heard a funeral march, or had a premonition of death. The last straw was the vision she saw between the snowdrifts of two children’s coffins. She calmed down a little only when she met the children and took them to Paris. Singer was glad to see his son and Diedra.
After meeting with their parents, the children were sent to Versailles with their governess. On the way, the engine stalled, and the driver came out to check it, the engine suddenly started working and... The heavy car rolled into the Seine. The children could not be saved.
Isadora didn't cry, he
but tried to ease the grief of those who were next to her. Relatives, at first surprised at her self-control, began to fear for her sanity. Duncan became seriously ill. She never recovered from this loss.
One day, while walking along the shore, she saw her children: they, holding hands, slowly went into the water and disappeared. Isadora threw herself on the ground and sobbed. A young man leaned over her. “Save me... Save my sanity. Give me a child,” Duncan whispered. The young Italian was engaged and their relationship was short. The child born after this relationship lived only a few days.
Golden-haired poet
In 1921, Lunacharsky officially invited the dancer to open a school in Moscow, promising financial support. However, the promises of the Soviet government did not last long; Duncan was faced with a choice - to leave school and go to Europe or earn money by going on tour. And at this time she had another reason to stay in Russia - Sergei Yesenin. She is 43, a plump woman with short, dyed hair. He is 27, a golden-haired poet with an athletic build. A few days after they met, he moved his things and moved in with her himself, at 20 Prechistenka.
Surprisingly, with all her great desire to love and be loved, Isadora only got married once. And then, it turns out, according to calculation - Yesenin would not have been allowed to go abroad with her otherwise. This marriage was strange for everyone around him, if only because the spouses communicated through an interpreter, not understanding each other’s language. It is difficult to judge the true relationship of this couple. Yesenin was subject to frequent changes of mood, sometimes something would come over him, and he would start shouting at Isadora, calling her names last words, beat, at times he became thoughtfully tender and very attentive. Abroad, Yesenin could not come to terms with the fact that he was perceived as the young husband of the great Isadora; this was also the cause of constant scandals. It couldn't go on like this for long. “I had passion, great passion. This lasted a whole year... My God, how blind I was!.. Now I don’t feel anything for Duncan.” The result of Yesenin’s thoughts was a telegram: “I love someone else, married, happy.” They were scammed, fortunately it was so easy to do in Russia at that time.
Her last lover was the young Russian pianist Viktor Serov. In addition to their common love of music, they were brought together by the fact that he was one of the few people she liked with whom she could talk about her life in Russia. She was over 40, he was 25. Uncertainty about his attitude towards her and jealousy drove Duncan to attempt suicide. Unsuccessful, but nonetheless unusual life the great dancer was already coming to an end. Just a few days later, Duncan tied her red scarf and headed out for a car ride; Having refused the offered coat, she said that the scarf was warm enough. The car started moving, then suddenly stopped, and those around them saw that Isadora’s head fell sharply onto the edge of the door. The scarf hit the wheel axle and, being pulled in, broke her neck.
Isadora was buried in Paris, at the Père Lachaise cemetery.
On September 14, 1927, Isadora Duncan died, who was remembered not only for her innovation in dance, but also for the fact that from 1922 to 1924 she was the wife of Sergei Yesenin.
Dora Angela Duncan was born on May 27, 1877 in San Francisco. Her father soon went bankrupt and left his wife with four children. Isadora was sent to school at the age of 5, hiding her real age. However, finding her studies useless, she ran away from school at the age of 13 to study music and dance on her own. Soon Isadora met Loie Fuller, who influenced the formation of Duncan's performing style. They performed together until 1902.
On the stage. (pinterest.com)
At 18, Duncan moved to Chicago, where she began performing in nightclubs. Isadora danced barefoot in a Greek chiton. The unusual costume, coupled with the unconventional performing style, as well as the advertising, which spoke of the dancer as an exotic curiosity, shocked the public.
Dancing. (pinterest.com)
Duncan was more than just an artist and dancer. She dreamed of creating a new person for whom dancing would be more than natural. Duncan, like her entire generation, was particularly influenced by Nietzsche. In response to his philosophy, Duncan wrote a book, The Dance of the Future.
A few years later, Duncan and her family traveled to Greece. On the initiative of Isadora, construction of a temple began on Kopanos Hill, where dance classes and, of course, performances by Duncan herself were to take place. The dancer personally selected 10 boy singers who, as part of the choir, accompanied the dancer during performances. Together with this choir she toured in Vienna, Munich, and Berlin.
Duncan first came to Russia at the end of 1904, when she was invited on tour to St. Petersburg and Moscow. Almost 10 years later, Isadora again came to Russia, where she was met by many fans and followers who founded their own free or plastic dance studios.
Duncan. (pinterest.com)
In 1921, People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky invited Duncan to Moscow to open a dance school. The Soviet government promised support, including financial support. However, most of the promises remained promises. It was then that she met Sergei Yesenin at one of the receptions of the artist Georgy Yakulov. The poet saw her while performing a dance with a scarf. Yesenin was shocked. The shock only intensified when, accepting congratulations from fans, the dancer kissed the poet on the lips in front of everyone. That same evening, Isadora was already reclining imposingly on the sofa, and the poet was kneeling next to her.
Soon they began to live together. Sergei and Isadora spoke in different languages, but did not part with each other. “He read his poems to me,” Isadora told translator and director of the Dance School Ilya Shneider. “I didn’t understand anything, but I hear that this is music, and that these poems were written by a genius!”
Duncan and Yesenin. (pinterest.com)
The relationship was controversial. Yesenin often got drunk, and it happened that Duncan beat him. In “A Novel Without Lies” by Yesenin’s closest friend Anatoly Mariengof, this novel is described as follows: “Yesenin subsequently became her master, her master. She, like a dog, kissed the hand that he raised to strike, and the eyes in which, more often than love, hatred for her burned. And yet he was only a partner, he was like a piece of pink matter - weak-willed and tragic. She danced. She led the dance."
Duncan's career in Moscow was not going well, and she decided to accept an invitation to tour the USA and Western Europe. Yesenin, not wanting to let Isadora go, decided to go with her. In order to leave the country together, they had to get married.
After spending several happy months in Europe, the couple headed to the States, where their relationship began to fall apart. Isadora tried in every possible way to promote her husband as a poet - she managed to organize the translation and publication of his poems, she organized poetry readings, but Yesenin was perceived exclusively as a cute addition, almost like a toy of a famous dancer. Proud Yesenin suffered, felt total loneliness, uselessness, which is why he fell ill with depression. He drank more and more often and caused scandals, thus still ending up on the front pages of American newspapers, but, again, as the eccentric husband of the incomparable, great Isadora.
Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan. (pinterest.com)
Soon the couple divorced. Two years after the breakup, Sergei Yesenin hanged himself in the Angleterre hotel, and a year and a half later, Isadora also died - also from strangulation, her long scarf while moving hit the axle of a car wheel, and the noose tightened. It was alleged that her last words spoken before getting into the car were: “Farewell, friends! I'm going to glory." According to other sources, however, Duncan said, "I'm going to love."
All the children born to Duncan died very early: daughter Derdry (from director Craig) and son Patrick (from businessman Paris Singer) died in a car accident, and the third son died a few hours after birth. Isadora adopted six of her students, among whom was Irma Erich-Grimm. The girls became continuers of the traditions of free dance and promoters of Duncan's creativity.
And Isadora Duncan in her work neglected established rules and canons and created own style and plastic. Her “barefoot dances” became the basis of the modernist movement in dance art.
Dancing Beethoven and Horace
Angela Isadora Duncan was born in San Francisco in 1877 in the family of banker Joseph Duncan. The father soon left the family, and the mother, Mary Isadora Gray, had to work hard to support four children. However, she often said: “You can do without bread, but you can’t do without art”. There was always music playing in their house, the family read a lot, played games ancient tragedies. Little Isadora began dancing at the age of two. And at the age of six, she opened the first “dance school” for neighboring children: she taught them movements that she invented herself. At the age of 12, while giving lessons, the young dancer could already earn extra money. A year later she left school and devoted all her time to dancing, studying music, literature and philosophy.
In 1895 the family moved to Chicago. Duncan worked in the theater and performed in nightclubs. Her vision of dance differed from classical performances. Ballet, according to the dancer, was only a complex of mechanical body movements that did not convey emotional experiences. In her dance, the body was supposed to become a conductor of sensations.
“There is no pose, no movement or gesture that is beautiful in itself. Any movement will be beautiful only when it truthfully and sincerely expresses feelings and thoughts.”
Isadora Duncan
Isadora was inspired by antiquity. Her ideal was the dancing Hetaera, depicted on a Greek vase. Duncan borrowed her image: she performed barefoot, in a translucent tunic, with her hair down. Then it was new and unusual, many admired both the dancer’s style and the originality of her movements. Duncan's movements were quite simple. But she strived to dance everything - music, paintings and poems.
“Isadora dances everything that others say, sing, write, play and draw, she dances Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and “ Moonlight Sonata", she dances "Primavera" by Botticelli and the poems of Horace."
Maximilian Voloshin
Dance of the future
At the beginning of the 20th century, the family moved first to London, then to Paris. In 1902, actress and dancer Loie Fuller invited Isadora to go on a tour of Europe. Together they created new compositions: “Serpentine Dance”, “Fire Dance”. “The Divine Sandal” - Duncan became very famous in the European cultural environment.
Isadora Duncan. Photo: biography-life.ru
Isadora Duncan. Photo: aif.ru
Isadora Duncan. Photo: litmir.net
In 1903, she traveled to Greece, where she studied ancient Greek plastic art, and then moved to live in Germany. In Grunewald, Duncan bought a villa and recruited students, whom she taught to dance and actually supported. This school operated until the First World War.
“I'm not going to teach you how to dance. I just want to teach you to fly like birds, bend like young trees in the wind, rejoice like a butterfly rejoices on a May morning, breathe freely like clouds, jump easily and silently like a gray cat.”
Isadora Duncan
Duncan developed her own philosophical views. She believed that everyone should learn to dance so that it becomes a “natural state” for people. Influenced by Nietzsche's philosophy, Duncan wrote the book The Dance of the Future.
In 1907, Isadora performed in St. Petersburg. Her concerts were attended by members of the imperial family, Mikhail Fokin, Sergei Diaghilev, Alexander Benois, Lev Bakst, ballet dancers, and writers. At the same time, the dancer met Konstantin Stanislavsky. Later in his book he recalled her words: “Before going on stage, I have to put some kind of motor in my soul; he will begin to work inside, and then the legs, and arms, and body themselves, against my will, will move.”.
Isadora Duncan. Photo: livejournal.com
Isadora Duncan. Photo: lichnosti.net
Isadora Duncan. Photo: diletant.media
Isadora Duncan inspired many of her contemporaries: artists Antoine Bourdelle, Auguste Rodin, Arnold Ronnebeck. She posed for Eadweard Muybridge, who took a series of dynamic photographs of Duncan dancing. Famous ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya said that this dancer would not have followers, but her dance would become part of modern ballet. In a relationship classical dances she was right: hand movements in ballet soon became freer under the influence of “Duncanism.”
Duncan-Yesenins
Remembering the failed family life parents, Duncan did not want to get married. The dancer had a short affair with director Gordon Craig, who became the father of her daughter Deirdre. Then she gave birth to a son, Patrick, with Paris Eugene Singer (heir to Isaac Singer, a manufacturer of sewing machines). In early 1913, the young Duncan children died tragically. The dancer was kept from committing suicide by students from her school in Germany: “Isadora, live for us. Are we not your children?
In 1921, Isadora Duncan was invited to Moscow, where she organized a dance school for children from proletarian families. At the same time, the dancer first met Sergei Yesenin. "He read me his poems“Isadora later said. – I didn’t understand anything, but I hear that this is music and that these poems were written by a genius!” At first they communicated through translators: she did not know Russian, he did not know English. The romance that broke out developed rapidly. They called each other “Isadora” and “Ezenin”.
Irma Duncan ( stepdaughter dancers), Isadora Duncan and Sergei Yesenin. Photo: aif.ru
Isadora Duncan and Sergei Yesenin. Photo: aif.ru
Soon Yesenin moved to the Duncan house on Prechistenka. Their relationship was stormy: the hot-tempered Yesenin was jealous of Isadora, could insult her or hit her, left, but then returned - he repented and swore his love. Duncan's friends were outraged that she allowed herself to be humiliated. And the dancer believed that Yesenin had a temporary nervous breakdown and the situation will improve sooner or later.
“Yesenin subsequently became her master, her master. She, like a dog, kissed the hand that he raised to strike, and the eyes in which, more often than love, hatred for her burned. And yet he was only a partner, he was like a piece of pink matter - weak-willed and tragic. She danced. She led the dance."
Anatoly Mariengof
In 1922, Duncan and Yesenin got married so that they could travel abroad together. They both began to bear a double surname: Duncan-Yesenin. After spending some time in Europe, the couple went to America, where Isadora took up Yesenin’s poetic career: she organized the translation and publication of his poems, and organized poetry readings. But in America, Yesenin suffered from depression, increasingly causing scandals, ending up on the front pages of newspapers. The couple returned to the USSR, and soon Isadora left for Paris. There she received a telegram: “I love another woman, married, happy.”
Two years later, the poet’s life ended tragically at the Angleterre Hotel. Another year and a half later, Isadora Duncan died in Nice: she was strangled by her own scarf, which got caught in a car wheel. The ashes of Isadora Duncan were buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.