Modern Dance's Principal Dancers - Isadora Duncan

Angela Isadora Duncan was born in 1877 in San Francisco, California. As a child she studied ballet, Delsarte technique and burlesque forms like skirt dancing. She began her professional career in Chicago in 1896, where she met the theatrical producer Augustin Daly. Soon after, Duncan joined his his touring company, appearing in roles ranging from one of the fairies in a "Mid-summer Night's Dream" to one of the quartet girls in "The Giesha." Duncan travelled to England with the Daly company in 1897. During this time she also danced as a solo performer at a number of society functions in and around London. 

• Duncan was the first American dancer to develop and label a concept of natural breathing, which she identified with the ebb and flow of ocean waves.
• Duncan was the first American dancer to define movement based on natural and spiritual laws rather than on formal considerations of geometric space.
• Duncan was the first American dancer to rigorously compare dance to the other arts, defending it as a primary art form worthy of "high art" status.
• Duncan was the first American dancer to develop a philosophy of the dance.
• Duncan was the first American dancer to deemphasize scenery and costumes in favor of a simple stage setting and simple costumes. By doing this, Duncan suggested that watching a dancer dance was enough.

Acessed - 20/01/2012

Chapter 2 - The solo dancers; Isadora Duncan

http://www.pitt.edu/~gillis/dance/isadora.html