Isadora Duncan

The fine art of modern dance is like many other fields in that it is based on the actions and deeds of those who were pioneers in the field. These pioneers helped to mold modern dance into what it is today. Of the many people who are partially responsible for this accomplishment is Isadora Duncan. Duncan, often referred to as the “mother of modern dance,” inspired many other dancers to the extent that the art of dance would not be the same today without her many contributions.

Isadora Duncan who was born in the late 1870’s in San Francisco, was raised alongside three siblings by her mother alone. This may possibly be what led her to become in her own time what we today would considered to be a feminist. She fought against the many restrictions placed on women in her personal life as well as in her form of dance. Because she was such a feminist, Isadora Duncan was strongly opposed to marriage. For this reason both of her children were born out of wedlock, each with a different father. Duncan unfortunately lived a life filled with tragedy. Both of her children died alongside their nanny when a car that thy three were seated in, rolled into a river. Grief-stricken by the death of her children, Isadora’s dancing career was temporarily put on hold until she finally opened up a dance school. She later met a Russian man whom she fell in love with and married in order to be able to bring him to the United States. When she arrived in the United States with her new husband, she was unwelcome because of the fear that the Americans had for the Soviet Union at the time. Angrily, she left the United States vowing to never return again. Subsequently, her husband, who was not well mentally, loft her and eventually he committed suicide. Isadora Duncan’s life came to an end in a fittingly tragic manner when her scarf became entangled in the wheels of a car in which she was riding pulling her out the window of the car and strangling her as she was dragged down the street to her death.