Isadora Duncan, the "Mother of Modern Dance," was born on May 27, 1878, in San Francisco, California. She was the youngest of four children. Her mother and father introduced all of their children to classical music, Shakespeare, literature, and art at a very young age. Because of this early exposure, Isadora fell in love with dancing. In her spare time, she taught younger children to dance in order to help support her family.

In her teens, Isadora Duncan performed in Chicago and New York City, taking part in many vaudeville shows and also starring as a fairy in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. These performances, however, were not a success. She moved to Europe in 1895, at age 22, in hopes of being more successful. She started out by performing in private saloons in London and Paris. Little by little she became more widely known and eventually ended up performing on huge stages in front of thousands of people.

Isadora Duncan was married, but the marriage lasted only a few months. Even though she was married only once, she had two children, Deirdre and Patrick, both with different biological fathers. Unfortunalely, both children tragically drowned in 1913 while they were in the care of their English nanny. This caused Isadora much distress.

Today Isadora Duncan is known as the "Mother of Modern Dance." She introduced a unique style of dancing which included wearing Greek chitons, having bare feet, loose hair styles, and using exaggerated, theatrical movements. Her performances were based on her tragic life experiences. Duncan set up many dance academies across Europe and into Russia. Unfortunately she died of a broken neck when on September 14, 1927, while in Nice, France, her scarf was caught in the wheels of a moving Bugatti sports car.

"My motto - sans limites."

~Isadora Duncan

Next