Isadora Duncan has entered the room carrying a bunch of colorful flowers wrapped in brown paper. There is no mistaking her- she wears her trademark costume; a white Grecian robe clasped over one shoulder.  She ignores you for the moment— all of her attention is directed towards the vase that sits on the window.  She sets her package down, and runs her fingers lightly over wilting spray already in the vase. She removes the drooping blooms and sets them down on the windowsill before unwrapping the fresh flowers and putting them in the vase.   She does not hurry through her task.  Instead, she seems to delight in it, taking time to carefully place each stem.  As she lovingly arranges the flowers, she begins to muse out loud.  She does not direct her thoughts to you, or to anyone in particular.  

 “

They say I am mother of modern dance, that my dancing illuminated the spirit and embodied joy.  Dance was, to me, divinity and my body a holy vessel.   I knew that dance must spring forth from the inner impulses of the spirit.   I tried to reclaim dance from the depths of depravity and artifice, to elevate it again to the high art form that it once was; a natural, joyful expression of the dancer’s own body.  As a young dancer, I would stand perfectly still in my studio for hours, hands folded over my solar plexus, waiting for the vision that would show me the central spring of motion: the divine impulse. I worked tirelessly to unlock its magic, and I came to believe that dance must be an unbound expression of joy!”

 

She pauses for a moment, swept up in emotion, and clasps her hands against her chest.  Her hair is coming loose from its chignon, and long strands of grey fall around her face, accentuating its softness.  She turns towards you.

   

“I rejected the precepts of ballet.   Its limited vocabulary and strict geometry seemed stale and pretentious.  I was more interested in returning dance to its rightful place amongst the sacred arts.  My followers understood this, that dance was divine expression.   But then… everything changed and they tried to codify their discoveries.  This is death to divinity!   Now modern dancers distort and abuse their beautiful bodies to follow the whims of a choreographer. They disguise the natural beauty and grace of the human form with spectacle and virtuosic physical feats.  They are no longer rebels, these new modern dancers.  They are like sheep, and the once rebellious spirit of modern dance has been reabsorbed by the ballet world and culture.[1]  Anna Sokolow, my friend, you were right when you said,  ‘The trouble with modern dance now is that it is trying to be respectable…For art, this is death.’[2]   Students now do not understand inspiration. When they dance they want steps and direction, and they are afraid to make mistakes and take risks.    My dancers, my Isadorables, understood the importance of connecting with one’s inner light.  They understood that dancing must embrace the ephemeral. When you dance, you must transform yourself: you must become the dance. “Dancers today have forgotten to dance with their spirits.   We must cast out our obsession with virtuosity; shed restrictive costumes and preordained movements and return to dancing that reveres the natural body. Dancers must not be afraid to show themselves, for without vulnerability there can be no art.   One cannot dance without love.”

 

She turns back to the flowers to give them a last small adjustment, and then leans down to smell them.  She inhales deeply, and as she does you detect a smile.  It is the first that you have seen from her.  She straightens up and nobly draws her shoulders back.  She has finished.

“

"It is time for my walk”

 

You watch her walk back out through the studio door.  There is a touch sadness about her, but she is beautiful to watch.   

 

 

 

[1] Art commentator John Goodman commented on this “absorption” of modern dance into the classical dance world by saying “the modern dancer is posed for extinction. The choreographic style that constituted her performing diet is no longer a living art...It’s suggestion of an adversarial stance are no longer relevant.” (No Fixed Points, pg.491-492)

 

[2]  The Vision of Modern Dance, Jean Morrison Brown