Isadora Duncan, the Mothr of Modern Dance

Isadora Duncan, the Mothr of Modern Dance

From the fifteenth century, when ballet was performed by nobles who were confined to the latest fashions of corsets and layers of skirts, into the late nineteenth century when ballet was being revitalized, dancing always had specified structure. It wasn’t until the twentieth century the rebels of ballet, and the confinement that came with it, arose and shared their ideals with the world of dance. Dancers such as Isadora Duncan created a new way of moving, revolutionizing the way dance was approached and observed.
Before the twentieth century, dance was predominantly ballet- which emphasized weightlessness, an upright posture, and outward rotation. Ballets followed stories and featured mysterious creatures in the Romantic Era (Au, 45), and focused on academic ballet technique in Russia when ballet became “classical” (Au, 62). The innovating dancers of the twentieth century interpreted ballet as “rigid” and having an “imperialistic nature,” which motivated them to transform the way dancers move their bodies (Pei‐San Brown, 2). This transition from a specialized form to the opening of the opportunity to move the body in ways which had not been practiced was the most important shift in the history of dance up to the mid twentieth century.
Isadora Duncan, known as the “Mother of Modern Dance” (Pei‐San Brown, 2), started the revolution which initiated the transition. Duncan was a serious artist and possessed "well-defined goals,” leading her to create a dance technique differing from the well-known forms of ballerinas. She abandoned the out turned positions and elevated stances in preference of natural positioning; “Nature was her inspiration and her guide” (Au, 89). Duncan believed all movement initiated from the solar plexus; where inner impulse was centered. With these bases in form, she created a way of moving which differed greatly from what had previously been done. She did not wish to abandon formal structure, but rather favored positions that were natural...

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