The Death of Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan was a pioneer in the world of dance, she met her death in a unique, tragic way.
Isadora Duncan was a modern dance pioneer and choreographer who is known as the founder of modern American dance. She died tragically in a car accident at the age of forty-nine.
She was born in 1878 in San Francisco, California, the youngest of four. Her mother introduced the children to all the culture and art that San Francisco had to offer. Her parents were divorced in 1888 and the children moved to Oakland with their mother.
Isadora dropped out of school and started performing in the theatre but became disenchanted with it and eventually became a solo dance performer. In 1900, she moved to Paris where she opened her own dance studio. Her flamboyant personal style and her unique approach to dance made her a star in the Paris.
Isadora Duncan was ahead of her time in many of her beliefs. She didnt believe in marriage and bore two children out of wedlock. Tragically, both children drowned in 1913. She was known for wearing flowing gowns, dancing barefoot, and wearing long, flowing scarves.
Unfortunately, a scarf was to be her undoing. In 1927, while she was riding as a passenger in a sports car, the scarf she was wearing somehow became entangled in one of the back wheels of the car. She was pulled from the car and dragged behind for several yards, her neck was broken by the force. She died instantly.
She was cremated and her ashes lie in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, resting place of such people as Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison.
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Athlyn Green
On May 19, 2009 at 11:12 am
Isadora sounds like the quintessential artist–someone who wasn’t afraid to be different.
Ananymous
On June 4, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I don’t think her children drwned… I read somewhere that one of them was a famous singer in Paris?
Susan Keeping
On June 4, 2009 at 8:31 pm
This from Wikipedia:
“Her private life was subject to considerable scandal, especially following the drowning of Deirdre and Patrick in an accident on the Seine River on April 19, 1913. The children were in the car with their nurse, returning home after lunch in the city with Isadora and Paris Singer. The driver stalled the car while attempting to avoid a collision. He got out to hand-crank the engine, but he had forgotten to set the emergency brake, so once he got the car to start, it went across the Boulevard Bourdon and rolled down the embankment into the river below. The children and the nanny drowned”
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