Isadora Duncan interesting facts from life. Isadora Duncan

Dora Angela Duncan was born in 1877 in San Francisco, USA. Her father was a banker, but immediately after Dora was born he went bankrupt and the family became poor. The Duncan children had to grow up early and start working. From the age of ten, after dropping out of school, Dora taught neighboring children to dance, and as a teenager, her thirst for travel led her first to Chicago and then to New York. There she performed in various nightclubs, soon becoming disillusioned with classical ballet.

Europe

Feeling unrecognized in America, young Dora went to London in 1898, where she danced in the living rooms of the aristocrats there. Then, by the will of fate, she ended up in Greece and became interested in ancient art. Her dance routines, performed barefoot and in a Greek chiton, captivated the audience, and in subsequent years she toured almost all of Europe with performances. Isadora Duncan toured Russia several times, where she gained a huge number of fans and students and won the heart of K. Stanislavsky himself.

Gordon Craig

Isadora Duncan's first serious romance happened when she was 27 years old. Her chosen one was the famous theater director Edward Gordon Craig. At first the couple was very happy and they had a daughter. However, over time, Craig increasingly began to express dissatisfaction with Isadora's dance career, suggesting that she leave the stage and become an ordinary housewife. Perhaps the reason for this was that his lover was doing much better than Craig himself. At that time, the name of Isadora Duncan was already on the lips of all of Europe, she was called nothing less than the “brilliant sandal,” and her sincere manner of expressing her momentary feelings and desires in dance became for many of her followers a new reference point in dance art. Of course, the freedom-loving and artistic Duncan had completely different plans, and the union fell apart.

Singer

New ones helped Dora forget the insults caused to her by her former lover. love relationship with a person far from the world of art.

The son of the famous inventor of sewing machines, Paris Eugene Singer, and the famous artist met in Paris, where they then lived together. The scion of one of the richest families in Europe surrounded his beloved woman with luxury, but was extremely jealous. They had a son, and Singer proposed marriage to Isadora. However, she chose a career and freedom, and one day one of the constant quarrels over open dancing and flirting with other men ended in separation for the couple.

Then Isadora left to perform in Russia, and the children remained in Paris. But these tours did not bring joy to the dancer, she had nightmares all the time, and the feeling of imminent loss did not leave her. Exhausted from her experiences, Duncan arrived in Paris, where the family was reunited. Warmth and mutual affection reappeared in the relationship. However, the idyll was soon broken, and the same nightmarish visions that haunted the actress in Russia came true. One day, returning from a walk, Isadora’s children tragically died. She fell into apathy and even planned to commit suicide.

Yesenin, Moscow

Return to normal life Isadora's work helped. In 1921, at the suggestion and with the support of the leadership of the RSFSR, she opened her own children's dance school in Moscow. Active and purposeful, Duncan was inspired and made grandiose plans for the future.

Soon fate brought her together with Sergei Yesenin, and a short but very difficult relationship between the 43-year-old artist and the 28-year-old poet began. Surprisingly quickly, the couple began to live together, and when Isadora decided to go on tour with Yesenin in 1922, they got married. Their performances in Europe and the USA were not very successful. The public greeted Duncan coldly, and Yesenin was perceived everywhere as the husband of a famous wife. The couple often quarreled, and upon returning to Russia, Isadora went on tour again, and Yesenin remained in Moscow. Soon he sent her a telegram saying that he had fallen in love with someone else and was incredibly happy. Then Duncan finally left Russia and moved to Paris.

Death, Paris

There she met her last love, a young pianist Viktor Serov, who emigrated from the USSR, who was almost half her age. Having experienced many losses and disappointments, the already middle-aged and tired Isadora Duncan felt the approach of old age, tormented her young lover with jealousy and suffered from melancholy and depression. She could no longer dance, her former grace disappeared, and the dance schools that she opened did not exist for long and were closed due to lack of funds. She even once again decided to voluntarily leave this life, but fate had its own way. On September 14, 1927, the great dancer went for a walk in an open car with a casual acquaintance. She tied her favorite scarlet scarf around her neck, which, wrapped around a wheel, strangled Isadora Duncan. Unfortunately, it was not possible to help her; she died instantly.

Biography of this famous woman was full of ups and downs, her style of dancing gave impetus to the development modern dance, her personal life is connected with the names of famous men of her time, and her death caused a lot of prejudice and speculation.

Isadora Duncan is an American dancer, the founder of free dance, and the wife of a Russian poet.

Isadora Duncan was born on May 26, 1877 in San Francisco. Born Dora Angela, she was the youngest of four children of Joseph Charles Duncan (1819-1898), a banker, mining engineer and noted art lover, and Mary Isadora Gray (1849-1922). Soon after Isadora's birth, the head of the family went bankrupt, and the family lived in extreme poverty for some time.

Duncan's parents divorced when she was not even a year old. The mother moved with the children to Auckland and found work as a seamstress and piano teacher. There was little money in the family, and soon young Isadora dropped out of school to earn money with her brothers and sisters by teaching dance lessons for local children.

Dancing

Since childhood, Isadora perceived dancing differently than other children - the girl “followed her imagination and improvised, dancing as she pleased.” Dreams of the big stage led Duncan to Chicago, where she unsuccessfully auditioned for various theaters, and then to New York, where in 1896 the girl got a job in the theater of the famous critic and playwright John Augustine Daly.


In New York, the girl took lessons from the famous ballerina Marie Bonfanti for some time, but, quickly becoming disillusioned with ballet and feeling underappreciated in America, Isadora moved to London in 1898. In the capital of Great Britain, Isadora began performing in rich houses - good earnings allowed the dancer to rent a studio for classes.

From London, the girl headed to Paris, where her fateful meeting with Loie Fuller took place. Loi and Isadora had similar views on dance, viewing it as a natural movement of the body, rather than a rigid system of practiced movements, as in ballet. In 1902, Fuller and Duncan went on a dance tour of European countries.


For many years of her life, Duncan traveled with performances throughout Europe and America, although she was not at all enthusiastic about touring, contracts and other fuss - Duncan believed that this distracted her from her true mission: training young dancers and creating something beautiful. In 1904, Isadora opened her first dance school in Germany and then another in Paris, but it was soon closed due to the outbreak of the First World War.

Isadora's popularity at the beginning of the 20th century is not in doubt. Newspapers wrote that Duncan's dance defined the power of progress, change, abstraction and liberation, and her photographs, which depicted the “evolutionary development of dance”, each movement born from the previous one in an organic sequence, became famous throughout the world.


In June 1912, French fashion designer Paul Poiret organized one of the most famous evenings, “La fête de Bacchus” (a re-creation of Louis XIV’s “bacchanalia” at Versailles), in a luxurious mansion in northern France. Isadora Duncan, dressed in a Greek evening dress designed by Poiret, danced on tables among 300 guests who managed to drink 900 bottles of champagne in a few hours.

After another tour in the USA in 1915, Isadora had to sail back to Europe - the choice fell on the luxury liner Lusitania, but due to a quarrel with creditors who threatened not to let the girl out of the country until she paid $12,000, Duncan ended up I had to board another ship. The Lusitania, torpedoed by a German submarine, sank off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people.


In 1921, Duncan's political sympathies brought the dancer to Soviet Union. In Moscow, People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR A.V. Lunacharsky invited the American to open a dance school, promising financial support. However, in the end, Isadora paid most of the expenses for maintaining the school from her own money, while experiencing hunger and everyday inconveniences.

The Moscow school quickly grew and gained popularity. The first performance of students of the institution took place in 1921 on stage Bolshoi Theater in honor of the anniversary October Revolution. Isadora, together with her students, performed a dance program, which, among others, included the dance “Warsawianka” to the melody of a Polish revolutionary song. The program, during which the revolutionary banner was picked up from the hands of fallen fighters by full-strength fighters, was a success with the audience.

However, not everyone was impressed. Some were puzzled that this “older woman” risked going on stage too naked. Short (168 cm), with flabby full thighs and a not so elastic bust, Duncan could not be as light and graceful as in her youth - the years were taking their toll.

The dancer lived in Soviet Russia for 3 years, but various troubles forced Isadora to leave the country, leaving the management of the school to one of her students, Irma.

Personal life

In her professional and personal life, Isadora violated all traditional principles. She was bisexual, an atheist and a true revolutionary: during her last tour of the United States, during the last chords of a concert at Boston's Symphony Hall, Isadora began waving a red scarf over her head, shouting: “It's red! And I’m the same!”

Duncan gave birth to two children out of wedlock - a daughter, Derdri Beatrice (born 1906), with theater director Gordon Craig, and a son, Patrick August (born 1910), with Paris Singer, one of the sons of Swiss tycoon Isaac Singer. Isadora's children died in 1913: the car in which the kids were with their nanny crashed into the Seine at full speed.


After the death of her children, Duncan fell into a deep depression. Her brother and sister decided to take Isadora to the island of Corfu for a few weeks, where the American became friends with the young Italian feminist Lina Poletti. The warm relationship between the girls caused a lot of gossip, but there was no evidence that the ladies were in a romantic relationship.

In his autobiography “My Life. My Love,” published in 1927, Duncan described how, desperate to have another child, she begged a young Italian stranger—the sculptor Romano Romanelli—to have sex with her. As a result, Duncan became pregnant by Romanelli and gave birth to a son on August 13, 1914, who died shortly after giving birth.


In 1917, Isadora adopted six of her charges, Anna, Maria Theresa, Irma, Liesel, Gretel and Erica, whom she taught while still at school in Germany. The group of young talented dancers was nicknamed “Isadorables” (a pun on the name Isadora and “adorables” (“charming”).

After graduating from school, where Isadora’s sister Elizabeth later taught (Duncan was constantly on the road), the girls began performing with Duncan, and then separately, having huge success with the public. A few years later, the team broke up - each girl went her own way. Erica was the only one of the six girls who did not connect her future life with dancing.


In 1921, in Moscow, Duncan met the poet Sergei Yesenin, who was 18 years younger than her. In May 1922, Yesenin and Duncan became husband and wife. The dancer accepted Soviet citizenship. The poet accompanied Duncan on her tour of Europe and the USA for more than a year, not hesitating to spend her money on prestigious housing, expensive clothes and gifts for relatives. At the same time, Yesenin experienced a strong longing for Russia, which he indicated in his letters to friends.

After two years of communication without knowledge of languages ​​(Isadora knew hardly more than 30 words in Russian, and Yesenin even less in English), friction began between the spouses. In May 1923, the poet left Duncan and returned to his homeland.


There are no direct dedications to Isadora in Yesenin’s poems, but the image of Duncan is clearly visible in the poem “The Black Man.” The poem “Let you be drunk by others..” is dedicated to the actress Augusta Miklashevskaya, although Duncan claimed that the poet dedicated these lines to her.

Later, Duncan began an affair with the American poet Mercedes de Acosta - they learned about this relationship from letters that the girls wrote to each other. In one of them Duncan admitted:

“Mercedes, lead me with your small strong hands, and I will follow you - to the top of the mountain. To the ends of the world. Wherever you want."

Death

IN recent years During her life, Duncan performed little, accumulated a lot of debt and was known for scandalous intimate stories and a love of drinking.

On the night of September 14, 1927, in Nice, Isadora left her friend Mary Desty (the mother of Preston Sturges, director of the film Sullivan's Wanderings) and got into the Amilcar car with the French-Italian mechanic Benoit Falcetto, with whom the American woman probably met had a romantic relationship.


Scarf and car wheel - cause of death of Isadora Duncan

As the car began to move sharply, the wind lifted the edges of the dancer's long, hand-painted silk scarf into the air and dropped it over the side of the car. The scarf immediately became entangled in the spokes of the wheel, and the woman was pressed into the side of the car. Duncan died instantly. The body was cremated; The urn containing the ashes was placed in a columbarium at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The car that killed the American dancer was sold for a huge sum at that time - 200,000 francs.


Isadora Duncan is an exceptional phenomenon in the history of culture. After it, only legends and an army of imitators remained. Descendants can simply believe that she was a genius. Her dance was a reflection of her nature, which amazingly combined the thirst for love and the desire for freedom, self-fidelity and the need for renewal. Her personal life was a bright fireworks display of passions, and bitterness and pain from an irreparable loss constantly lived in her heart.

Childhood, adolescence, youth

“This child cannot be ordinary. Even in my womb, she jumped and jumped,” these were the words spoken by Mary Duncan on May 27, 1878, as soon as Isadora was born. And indeed, the girl turned out to be very active. At the age of 13, she decided to leave school, declaring that it was a worthless activity, and opted for music and dancing. At 18, the young American set off to conquer Chicago. Her dancing style was light, graceful, free. She danced barefoot, wearing a light and short tunic reminiscent of an ancient Greek one. One day Stanislavsky asked Duncan, “Who taught you to dance like that?” Isadora smiled and proudly answered, “Terpsichore.”

Daughter Deirdre

The graceful dancer could not help but attract men; she had many admirers. The meeting with Gordon Craig, a theater director from Germany, turned out to be fateful. After becoming pregnant, Isadora continued to dance to earn a living. In 1906, Duncan's daughter Deirdre was born. As soon as possible, Isadora returns to the stage.


During the next performance, she loses consciousness, which deprives Gordon of funding for his next project. They soon get divorced.

Son Patrick

After one performance in Paris, Paris Singer, the heir to the inventor of the sewing machine, knocked on the dancer’s door. The man gave her valuable gifts, surrounded her with care and attention, but was very jealous. In 1910, Isadora's son Patrick was born.


Duncan categorically refused to marry Singer, because she valued her independence very much. “I can’t be bought,” she said and continued flirting with other men.

Tragedy



However, talent and popularity come at a price. The diva was tormented by terrible premonitions and visions of death. She imagined a funeral march, and before her eyes stood two children’s coffins in the snow. The same sensations did not leave her in her sleep.


Isadora moved with her children to the quiet town of Versailles, not far from Paris. One day, while she was in the capital with her children, she had urgent matters to attend to. Duncan had to send the children and governess to Versailles with a driver. On the way, the car broke down - the engine stalled. The driver left the car to inspect it and understand the cause of the breakdown. The car moved abruptly and the doors jammed. The car fell into the Seine. The children were killed in a car accident along with their nanny.

Life after loss

Despite the heartbreaking tragedy, Isadora Duncan found the strength to speak at the trial on the side of the driver, because he also had children. However, she could not recover from the loss: she was constantly haunted by hallucinations. One day she thought she saw her children in the river. The dancer threw herself on the ground and began to sob; the young man bending over her offered help. “Save me, give me a child!” she begged. The young man was engaged, their relationship did not last long. The born child lived only a few days.


Irma Duncan



One of the 6 adopted girls, Irma Duncan, continued the activities of her guardian; the fates of the rest are unknown. Irma was from a poor and large family. Her mother brought her to Isadora at the age of 8, while recruiting students for the first dance school near Berlin. The girl always accompanied Duncan during her tours and came to Moscow with her.


After Isadora left for Europe in 1924, Irma continued to run a dance school in Russia. She became the wife of journalist I.I. Schneider. After Isadora's death, Irma divorced her husband. In 1929 she opened a dance school in New York, which she directed for many years. The Moscow dance school ceased to exist in 1949. Irma began to engage in painting and literature, and became the wife of lawyer Sherman Rogers. She wrote books dedicated to Isadora's dance techniques and methods of teaching them. In 1977 Irma Duncan died in California at the age of 80.

Biographers of the dancer still argue today - but

As a rule, talent and great success come at a price, and the price can be much greater than the popularity and fame that comes with success. Isadora never found her personal happiness in love, she survived the death of her children and the end of her life was an absurd, stupid death.

The Unlucky Fate of Isadora Duncan

The mother of the future dance queen, Mary Duncan, earned money by teaching music lessons. Naturally, she taught music to her own children, who, according to her, were her best students. In addition, little Isadora took ballet lessons.

In 1895, the Duncan family moved to Chicago. The girl tried to find a job as a dancer in one of the city’s theaters and, as a result, after many days of searching and viewing, the director of one of the entertainment establishments invited her to sign a contract.

In Chicago, the beautiful Isadora had her first real admirer - the forty-five-year-old artist Ivan Mirotsky, who was Polish by birth. He even made an official proposal to the young girl. But later it turned out that the artist was married... With resentment in her soul and a broken heart, Isadora left for London.

Perhaps it was the right decision, since there her dancing career immediately took off. She danced at social events without a bra or tights, barefoot, introducing an element of ancient Greek dance into her non-standard performances. This innovation sent the public into a real frenzy.

The unrequited love of Isadora Duncan

However, despite her popularity, Isadora was still unlucky in her personal life. She accepted the proposal and was engaged to an unknown actor, Magyar by nationality - Oscar Bereži. It was he who was lucky enough to become the first man in the life of a 25-year-old dancer; before that she remained a virgin, which was unusual for the bohemian environment in which her life took place. However, soon the actor was offered filming in the capital of Spain, Madrid, and he announced the termination of the engagement.

At the age of 29, Isadora met theater director and director Gordon Craig, with whom she gave birth to her first child, daughter Deirdre. After some time, Isadora and Gordon separated due to the latter's fault, since he refused to marry her and preferred marriage to his previously beloved Elena. This was another blow to the woman’s heart, which left typos for the rest of her life.

One day after a concert, an imposing man entered Isadora’s theater dressing room and introduced himself as Paris Eugene Singer. The man inherited a huge fortune from his deceased father, a manufacturer who produced world-famous Singer sewing machines. From Paris Singer Isidora had a son, Patrick. However, I had to end all relations with Paris, since he was incredibly jealous of Isadora towards all the men around the dancer.

A terrible prediction

In 1905, L. Bakst, a Russian artist who was fond of palmistry, predicted the already famous Isadora that she would have tremendous success and fame, but at the same time she would lose her two most beloved creatures. This prediction was a kind of curse of Isadora Duncan. At the beginning of 1913, Isadora Duncan went on a long tour to Russia. Already, being in the coldest country in Europe, terrible visions began to haunt her. She either heard the sounds of funeral marches, or saw through the veil of falling snow two children’s coffins piled up in the middle of the snowdrifts.

To the dancer’s great regret, these premonitions were destined to come true. After touring Russia, Duncan came to the French capital of Paris to see her daughter’s father, Paris Singer. One day, while in a dance studio at one of the Parisian theaters, three completely black cats suddenly ran in front of her. And returning to her dressing room, the dancer saw a book forgotten by someone unknown, the infamous “Niobe Mourning Her Own Children.” Isadora understood that all these signs were harbingers of terrible trouble. And she was not mistaken. Soon Singer came to her with terrible news. The car in which Isadora's children were with their nanny lost control and drowned in the Seine.

After the death of the children, Isadora fell ill with a nervous disorder. She was constantly haunted by mysterious visions; one day, while walking along a deserted embankment, she suddenly clearly saw her dead children. Holding each other's hands, they entered the water. Seeing this, the woman felt bad. She was helped up by a young Italian who happened to be nearby at the right time. From that moment they became lovers, as a result of a rather fleeting relationship, Isadora gave birth to a third child - a boy, but he was destined to live only a few days.

Isadora Duncan wife of Sergei Yesenin

In order to somehow soothe her emotional wounds, Isadora threw herself headlong into work and in 1921 opened a dance school in Moscow. In the Russian capital, she first met the great poet Sergei Yesenin.

A year later, in 1922, Yesenin and Duncan officially became spouses. At one time after the marriage they lived abroad together. But the famous Russian poet constantly suffered from the fact that he was not perceived as literary personality, but only as the wife of the great Isadora Duncan.



In addition, the wife was 18 years older. Another obstacle in their relationship was the language barrier; she spoke Russian poorly, and he knew neither French nor English. And he did not get rid of his addiction to abusing alcoholic beverages after his marriage. In 1924, the poet returned to Russia and literally soon sent a telegram to his wife:

I love another woman, married, happy.

As a result, they filed for divorce.

Death of Isadora Duncan

On September 14, 1927, at the peak of her fame, the dancer was scheduled to give a concert in Nice. A legend that became known later says that a moment before getting into the car, Isadora exclaimed to her fans:

Goodbye, friends! I'm going to glory!

The driver started the car. Neither he nor the dancer noticed that the long red scarf wrapped around her neck had hit the axle of the rear wheel. Taking a long drag, he literally suffocated her.

The body of the great actress was cremated, and the ashes were buried in the Parisian Père Lachaise cemetery.



This is how the life of a great actress and beautiful woman, who was the idol of millions of people, but never experienced true happiness, was tragically cut short! Isadora Duncan's curse came to life, simultaneously taking away her own.

In any case, the life and death of the famous dancer Isadora Duncan completely confirms this version.

"Genius Sandal"

This outstanding woman was born in May 1878 in America. Her father, having gone bankrupt, ran away from home, leaving his wife and four children without a livelihood. So, we can say that relationships with men did not work out for Isadora Duncan from a very young age.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

At the age of 13, Isadora dropped out of school, taking up music and dance seriously. And five years later she left for the big city of Chicago to achieve success and fame in the field of art. Here her first love was waiting for her - a red-haired Pole Ivan Mirosky, almost a quarter of a century older than her and also married. However, the failure in her personal life was made up for by her first successes in dance - rejecting the classical school of ballet, expressing her momentary feelings in movement, young Duncan, dancing barefoot in transparent clothes, captivated the sophisticated audience of secular salons. The aspiring dancer had money and immediately headed to Europe, hoping that some unknown world would open up to her there.

In Greece, the dancer became interested in ancient art, and from then on the tunic became a permanent attribute of her performances. But before Greece there was Budapest, where the overseas star was noticed and appreciated by the heir to the Austrian throne himself - Archduke Ferdinand. Here, on the Danube, Duncan met a new love, which also turned out to be short-lived. Isadora's chosen one this time was a young Hungarian actor Oscar Take Care. Communication with him led Duncan to the sad conclusion that the usual family life with her beloved man is impossible for her.

She visited Germany, where she became interested in majestic music Wagner and tried to express it in her plastic improvisations. In Germany, she had a short and completely platonic affair with a local art critic Heinrich Thode. A little later, when she went on tour to Russia for the first time, the already famous dancer managed to conquer another artist - a director already famous by that time Konstantin Stanislavsky. True, the relationship with him will continue tender kisses didn't go.

Duncan first had a long and serious relationship with a man in Berlin, where she met the great English theater director Gordon Craig, who also fell under the spell of both Duncan’s personality and her art. First weeks life together were happy, but soon Craig began to hint that he would like to see Isadora not as a famous artist, but simply as a housewife. The dancer could not agree to this. And although they had a daughter, to whom Craig gave the poetic Irish name Diedre, the union of two artistic natures fell apart.

Meanwhile, the fame of Isadora Duncan was already thundering throughout the world. She was called the “divine sandal,” and her style of dancing became fashionable and leading in many cultural capitals of Europe, including St. Petersburg.

Dance of Death

Inspired by motherhood, Isadora Duncan decided to take care of other children - she opened a dance school in Paris. The maintenance of this children's school was expensive, and here Duncan met one of the richest people in Europe. This was the son of the inventor and manufacturer of famous sewing machines - Paris Eugene Singer. He willingly gave money for the school. Acquaintance grew into friendship, and then into love.

A dancer from a poor American outback became a regular at social events and the owner of unheard-of luxury. A son was born Patrick. It seemed that happiness had come, all dreams had come true. But at one of the parties, Singer became terribly jealous of Isadora, quarreled with her and left for Egypt. The children remained in Paris, and Duncan herself went on tour to Russia. Here she suddenly began to have nightmarish visions: among the white snowdrifts she imagined two coffins, and at night she heard the “Funeral March” Chopin.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

With gloomy forebodings, Isadora returned to Paris and, taking the children, took them to rest in the picturesque town of Versailles not far from the French capital. Soon Singer also appeared there, and reconciliation took place. The feeling of idyll arose again. And again fate destroyed everything in the most terrible way.

After walking around Paris with Singer and the children, Isadora decided to stay in the city to study dance in her studio. Singer also had business in Paris, so the children and their driver were sent by car to Versailles. On the way, the car stalled, the driver came out to inspect the engine, and meanwhile the car rolled into the Seine, and the children died. The death of six-year-old Diedre and three-year-old Patrick shocked Duncan so much that she could not even cry, but fell into a deep depression. At the same time, she interceded for the driver, knowing that he also had children.

She wanted to commit suicide, and only the little students from the dance school stopped Duncan. To somehow distract herself, Isadora went to the Mediterranean Sea. But even here she was haunted by images of dead children. One day they seemed to her in the sea waves, and Isadora fainted. And when I came to my senses, I saw a handsome young man in front of me. "May I help you?" he asked. "Yes, give me the baby."

Their relationship was short-lived; the Italian was engaged and did not cancel the wedding. And their son died a few hours after birth.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Last node

Huge events took place in Europe - the First World War began and ended, empires fell, a revolution took place in Russia. She went to Soviet Russia at the invitation of the People's Commissar Lunacharsky in 1921 by Isadora Duncan. She stated: “I want the working class to be rewarded for all their suffering and hardship by seeing their children beautiful.” In Moscow, she opened another dance school for children.

When Isadora was only two years old, there was a fire in their house, and the girl was thrown out of the window into the arms of a policeman. Since then, the scarlet flames have become for Duncan a symbol of life and death. She often performed on stage with a huge scarlet scarf, creating the image of flashes of fire. Now in Soviet Russia this scarf has also become a symbol of the revolution. She danced on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater to “The Internationale”, and from the former royal box she applauded Lenin. Several years will pass, and the scarlet scarf will tie its last knot in Duncan’s life.

In Moscow, an already middle-aged dancer met a young and very popular Russian poet Sergei Yesenin. And although they did not know each other’s language and communicated through an interpreter, passionate love broke out, which ended in an official marriage - the first in Duncan’s life. But this love did not last long. The poet, as you know, drank heavily, they often quarreled, in the end, he sent her a telegram: “I love someone else, married, happy.” When Yesenin died two years later (according to the official version, he committed suicide) and Duncan found out about this in Europe, she said: “I cried and suffered so much because of him that he exhausted all my possibilities for suffering.” Moreover, Isadora Duncan acted very nobly - she gave all rights to Yesenin’s fees to the poet’s mother and sisters, although, as a widow, they were due to her.

In those years, Duncan herself was in great need, she was almost 50 years old, and she could no longer dance with her former grace and former success. In addition, wherever possible, she opened dance schools for children, which then usually quickly closed due to lack of funds. Only the Moscow dance school on Prechistenka lasted two decades, thanks to government support. The school was run by a student and adopted daughter of Isadora - Irma Duncan.

Isadora Duncan Dance School. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

ABOUT last days Little is known about the great dancer. Among her last men is a Russian emigrant pianist Victor Serov, who was half her age. She was terribly jealous of him and even wanted to commit suicide one day. But a few days after that, fate decreed otherwise. Going for a walk in an open car, Isadora Duncan tied her favorite scarlet scarf with long ends. The car started moving, the scarf got into the wheel axle, was pulled in and strangled Duncan. It happened on a clear autumn day on September 14, 1927.

A great dancer and an unusual woman is buried tragic fate at the famous Parisian cemetery Père Lachaise.