Isadora Duncan: The Costumes and the Irrepressible Spirit
A University Essay (Semester 1, 2021)
1,380 words
This is a copy of an essay I submitted for assessment, all referencing has been kept in place.
Isadora Duncan, often referred to as the ‘Mother of Modern Dance’ (Isadora Duncan Archive, 2021) was an innovative American dancer, and a bold revolutionary. This essay will outline who Isadora Duncan was and the values and beliefs that shaped her life. Further, it will discuss and examine the ways in which Isadora used costumes within her art form, and how different types of costume had an impact on her dance style and its evolution. It will also investigate how Isadora’s philosophies and world-view affected her art and how she used her dance, not only as a form of self-expression, but as a tool to educate and enlighten.
Isadora Duncan was born on May 26th 1877, in San Francisco, California (Goldfine & Geller, 1988). She was raised by single mother Mary Dora in genteel poverty after her divorce from Joseph Duncan, and was the youngest of four children (Anderson, 1997). A spirited and lively child, Isadora once wrote that “from the moment [she] entered the world, [she] moved [her] arms and legs in such a fury that [her] mother cried ‘The child is a maniac!’” (Goldfine & Geller, 1988, 00:46). She and her siblings each inherited from their mother a love of the arts, and as an athiest, Mary instilled in them a disdain for institutional Christianity and the restrictive and controlling patriarchal ideals that went along with it. She taught them that there was “no Santa Claus, nor any God, but only [their] own spirits to guide [them]” (Goldfine & Geller, 1988, 01:32), and young Isadora’s spirit was one of revolt.
She left formal education at an early age, and continued her learnings through the reading of many books at her local library (LaMothe, 2005) and later by travelling and researching at museums (Brown, 1998). Her mother enrolled her in a ballet school, but she did not stay long, opposing the stiff and repetitive positions, and declaring that dancing on ones toes was ugly and unnatural (Goldfine & Geller, 1988). After trying classes for all of the dance styles available to her and promptly dismissing them, Isadora took it upon herself to study nature instead. She spent much of her time at the beach, teaching herself to move like the waves and the wind (LaMothe, 2005).
She believed dance to be “the movement of the human body in harmony with the movement of the earth” (Goldfine & Geller, 1988, 4:10), and that the available forms of dance at the time deeply violated this. They were strict in positions, did not allow for intuitive movement, and constrained dancers, particularly those of the female sex, into tight corsets that limited their mobility and expression in favour of what society saw as proper and ‘beautiful’.
Duncan wished to contest the Victorian experience of female culture. Her efforts to reform the constricted movements of women’s bodies in daily life and in theatrical self-display had meaning both externally for social life and internally for dance history. (Franko, 1995, p. 2).
The costumes used for Isadora’s unique style of dance, both her own and those later used by her students, consisted of Greek-like tunics, bare feet, long silken scarves, and fitted, sleeveless leotards known as fleshlings. These garments were usually self-made, and as such were customised to fit each body comfortably, allowing for more control, and less interference to movement (Nahumck, 1994).
Figure 1 [Photogravure of a Duncan dress]
Note. From “Graphic Arts Collection: Isadora Duncan” by Princeton University,
2017, (https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2017/12/18/isadora-duncan/)
The fleshlings were made from white tricot, hand stitched, and dyed using tea to achieve a colour resembling caucasian skin tones. These were worn as an undergarment beneath the lightweight tunics, which were usually knee length or shorter for the younger girls, and ankle-length with a slit over each leg for the older students. These tunics were often hand-pleated in an Ionic fashion like those seen on Greek statues. This pleating was a time consuming process requiring two people, and took around three days to dry. It was repeated each time the garments were washed to ensure they were in proper shape for the next performance (Nahumck, 1994).
Elasticated bands were added around the chest and upper waist area, and wreaths and garlands were sometimes worn. When scarves were used, they were usually worn tied at one shoulder and draped over the opposite hip. Colours and fabrics for the costumes were chosen to fit each performance (Nahumck, 1994).
Some criticised these outfits as being too revealing and sexual in nature, and particularly in her own country of America her appearance was initially shunned as indecent and coquettish, while others such as Europe viewed her as empowering and revolutionary, welcoming her with open arms (Goldfine & Geller, 1988).
Isadora’s costumes were a way to free the body from the tight and unnatural clothing worn in ballet, as well as those used in everyday society. A way to set women free and allow them to be seen in their natural form, while enabling the body to connect with the earth and soul.
She believed that humanity needed to develop new ways in which to connect with and cultivate physical consciousness in order to see the value and beauty in the human embodiment, and to be able to view this beauty within themselves (LaMothe, 2005). Her eclectic spiritual upbringing led her to the belief that faith in an omnipotent and otherworldy God was something to be overcome. That people should be educated into awareness that they themselves are the true holy source of all their highest ideals; love, beauty, and god, and that her vision of dance could help to achieve this (LaMothe, 2005).
Isadora’s dance came from the inside out, in large sweeping gestures that echoed the world around her. Her movements stemmed from the solar-plexus; what she believed to be the temporal seat of the soul (Goldfine & Geller, 1988), rather than the base of the spine which was taught in ballet, but that she believed to result in mechanical, puppet-like movements (Goldfine & Geller, 1988).
She strived to express the soul in physical form, not just using natural movement, but intuitive and improvised sequences extracted from the unconscious (Franko, 1995), and the simple yet angelic clothing that she chose for this work made this all the more possible. Bare feet allowed for more control over footwork, but it also allowed her to ground herself with the earth, strengthening the link between herself and nature. She saw woman as nature itself, and dance as the format for which it could communicate (Franko, 1995).
Isadora pursued knowledge and understanding everywhere she went, seeking the company of intellectuals and artists, and provoking discussions pertaining to philosophy, and particularly the relationship between religion and art (LaMothe, 2005).
In her rejection of the already established dance world around her, Isadora would sometimes go as far as to refuse the title of ‘dancer’ in favour of ‘artiste’, in order to avoid being associated with the practices she so detested (LaMothe, 2005).
Eventually Isadora Duncan founded her own dance schools in order to spread her mission and teach the young. Sharing her techniques rather than positions (Nahumck, 1994), she allowed the children to interpret things for themselves, and shared with them her concept of dance as pure emotion expressed by the body (Poplawski, 1998).
She was dedicated to her art and steadfast in her values, even through the constant rejections of her early career, and when she was faced with utter tragedy for the loss of her dear children, her art is what ultimately saved her (Goldfine & Geller, 1988).
Isadora was intelligent and mindful, and she used her dance not only as a form of self expression, but as a way to open peoples eyes to other possibilities. A way to try and free society from it’s self-imposed shackles, and to create a brighter future for women and humanity as a whole. She passed her findings and theories onto her students, so they could continue her work and expand on their own. Isadora wasn’t just a dancer, she was a philosopher and an educator, and the impact of her eccentric and individualist nature can be seen within both dance and society in general to this day.
References:
Anderson, J. (1997). Art without boundaries: the world of modern dance. University of Iowa Press.
Brown, J. M., Mindlin, N., Woodford, C. H. (Eds.). (1998). The Vision of Modern Dance: In the Words of Its Creators (2nd ed.). Princeton Book Company.
Franko, M. (1995). Dancing Modernism/Performing Politics. Indiana University Press.
Goldfine, D., & Geller, D. (Directors). (1988). Isadora Duncan: Movement from the Soul [Documentary on DVD]. Geller/Goldfine Productions.
Isadora Duncan Archive. (2021). Isadora Duncan (1877-1927). Retrieved June 03, 2021, from https://www.isadoraduncanarchive.org/dancer/1/
LaMothe, K. L. (2005). “A God Dances through Me”: Isadora Duncan on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Revaluation of Values. The Journal of Religion, 85(2), 241-266.
Nahumck, N. C. (1994). Isadora Duncan: The Dances. National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Poplawski, T. (1998). Eurythmy: rhythm, dance and soul. Anthroposophic Press.
Princeton University. (2017). Isadora Duncan. Graphic Arts Collection. https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2017/12/18/isadora-duncan/