Isadora Duncan was born on May 26, 1877, in San Francisco, California. She was the youngest daughter of Joseph and Dora Duncan. Her father was a banker. Her mother was the youngest daughter of California senator Thomas Grey. Shortly after Isadora was born, her father lost his bank. Her parents divorced in 1880 and Dora moved to Oakland, California, with her four children. The family struggled. Isadora and her sister gave dance lessons to local children to earn extra money.
Style of Dance
Duncan’s free-flowing, improvisational style of dance was a drastic contrast to the rigidity of ballet. Inspired by Greek myths, she wore long scarves, loose dresses, and went barefoot. She believed that the rigid nature of ballet was “against nature.” In 1899, Isadora moved to Europe, living in both London and Paris. She quickly found success. European artists and authors dedicated works to her. When the Theatre des Champs-Elysees was built in 1913, the sculptor, Antoine Bourdelle, carved her likeness in the bas-relief over the entrance and she was included in a mural of the nine muses by Maurice Denis.
In 1922, Isadora moved to Moscow, but she returned to Europe in 1924. She opened a total of three schools for girls. The first, Grunewald, was in Germany. Grunewald was the birthplace of the “Isadorables,” a group of Isadora’s pupils who performed both with Duncan and independently.
An Unconventional Life
Like her dance style, Isadora’s lived an unconventional life. She had two children out of wedlock. Her daughter, Deirdre, was born September 24, 1906. Her father was the theater designer, Gordon Craig. Her son, Patrick, was born May 1, 1910. His father was Paris Singer, the son of sewing machine magnate Isaac Singer. On April 19, 1913, both children, with their nurse, drowned in an accident on the Seine River. They were returning home after a lunch with Isadora and Paris Singer.
In 1922, she married Sergei Yesenin, a Russian poet who was eighteen years her junior. Yesenin was also an alcoholic whose drunken rages brought Isadora negative publicity. Within a year, he returned to Russia where he suffered a mental breakdown and was institutionalized. Upon his release, he died under mysterious circumstances on December 28, 1925. Isadora was a bisexual and had lesbian relationships with the poet Mercedes de Acosta and the writer Natalie Barney.
Later Years
Isadora’s last American tour was in 1922-1923. Towards the end of her life, she was more famous for her financial problems, notorious lifestyle, and public drunkenness. She spent her last years living in Paris and the Mediterranean. Her autobiography was published in 1927. On September 14, 1927, Isadora died in a freak automobile accident in Nice, France, when her long scarf became entangled in the wheel and rear axle of her car, breaking her neck. Isadora was cremated and her ashes were placed next to her children at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Sources:
- Duncan, Doree, Carol Pratl, and Cynthia Splatt, eds. Life Into Art: Isadora Duncan and Her World. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1993.
- Duncan, Isadora. My Life. New York: Liveright, 1996.
- Kurth, Peter. Isadora: A Sensational Life. Boston: Back Bay Publishing, 2002.
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