Isadora Duncan was born in San Francisco in 1877. In her early 20's, she moved to Europe to become a dancer., After all, it used to be that is what one did to foster careers in the arts. She was not a classically trained ballerina, but she had always loved to dance. In fact, she worked as a dance instructor in her mother's music school. She was described as being a free-spirited bohemian dancer who improvised her dances and concentrated on the rhythm and beauty of the human body. No stiff shoes nor short tutus for her. She wore togas and scarves and usually danced barefoot. She was very popular with females more than males.
She had two children (pictured above): Diedre and Patrick. In 1913, these two small children of hers drowned when the car in which they were traveling plunged over a bridge into the Seine in Paris. Duncan herself was seriously injured in car accidents in 1913 and 1924.
The details of her own death are so tragic that we would call them a "freak accident" today. She was a passenger in a new sports car that she was learning to drive. She was leaned back in her seat to enjoy the sea breeze. She was wearing an enormous red scarf, and somehow it blew back and got entangled in the rear wheel on her side. The scarf wrapped around the axle, tightened around her neck, and dragged her from the car. She died instantly on the street.
She is now considered the inventor of what we now call modern dance. Although she lived but a short time, is is clear that she had a significant impact on the world of dance.
For more information, check out these sites:
- http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dancer-isadora-duncan-is-killed-in-car-accident
- http://www.isadoraduncan.org/about_isadora.html
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