Isadora Duncan, born in 1877, was a pioneer of modern dance. She grew up poor and dropped out of school to move to Europe, where she opened her own dance school. Her personal life was marked by scandals, including having two children out of wedlock and being openly bisexual. Her career declined due to her refusal to perform commercially and public drunkenness. She died in 1927 after her scarf caught on a friend’s car steering wheel.
Dora Angela Duncan was born on May 26, 1877 in San Francisco, California. Known worldwide as Isadora Duncan, she is considered the Mother of Modern Dance. Isadora grew up with her mother and her sister in a poor house in the suburbs. After her father abandoned the family, all three women were forced to work. The children became impromptu dance teachers while her mother taught piano lessons.
Isadora Duncan has never been a conventional child. Raised as an atheist by her mother and taught that individualism is more important than public acceptance, she eventually dropped out of school and moved to Europe in the early 20th century. In Paris, Isadora Duncan opened her own dance school, which she intended to be “as different as possible from the ugly style of classical ballet.” She was wildly acclaimed not only among dancers, but also in the eyes of sculptors, writers and other artists. In 20, Isadora Duncan was already considered a living icon.
Isadora’s private life was marred by a series of scandals. She had two children out of wedlock, one with married theater designer Gordon Craig and one with sewing machine mogul Paris Singer. Both of her children tragically drowned when the car they were in plunged into the Seine in 1913.
Isadora Duncan had a passionate relationship with the Spanish-American poet Mercedes de Acosta. She has also been linked to actress Eleonora Duse and writer Natalie Barney. Isadora Duncan made her bisexuality public, causing a scandal when she proclaimed it on a stage in Boston, during her 1922-1923 tour. Subsequently, she Isadora Duncan lived briefly in Moscow, where she met and married 28-year-old poet Sergei Yesenin. The marriage lasted only a few months, after which she Isadora returned to Europe.
As the years progressed, Isadora’s career declined, largely due to her refusal to perform commercially and her public displays of drunkenness. Troubled by her debts, she was encouraged by friends to write an autobiography, but she never actually finished it. Isadora Duncan died of strangulation on September 14, 1927, when her scarf caught on the steering wheel of a friend’s car. Her autobiography, My Life, was published a few years later.
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