|
This Page Last Modified on Jan. 9, 2007
| First-Generation |
| Isadora Duncan (Angela Isadora Duncan) |
|
|
b. San Francisco, USA on May 26, 1877 / d. Nice, France on Sept. 14, 1927 |
|
| Elizabeth Duncan (Mary Elizabeth Bioren) |
|
|
b. San Francisco, USA on Nov. 8, 1871 / d. Tubingen, Germany in 1948. |
|
Second-Generation
|
Pupils of Forest School in Grunewald, Germany, opened on Dec. 1, 1904. The pupils were called
"Duncaninchen (Little Duncans)"
|
|
Isadorables / Isadora Duncan Dancers
Original pupils joined Forest School in 1905. They were adopted by Isadora
in 1917.
The group name was christened by the poet and critic Fernand Divoire. |
|
|
|
|
Anna Duncan (Anna Denzler)
|
|
b. Zurich, Switzerland on Dec. 21, 1894 / d. Yonkers, NY, USA on Mar. 7,
1980 |
|
|
|
|
|
Erica Duncan (Erica Lohman)
|
|
b. Hamburg, Germany in Mar. 1901 / d. in 1984
Erica left the Isadorables to practice painting and handicrafts in around
1921. |
|
|
|
|
|
Irma Duncan (Irma Dorette Ehrich-Grimme)
|
|
b. Schleswig-Holstein Germany on Feb. 26, 1897 d. Santa Barbara, CA, USA
on Sept. 20, 1977
Isadora allowed Irma to teach children dance when she was 15 years old.
Only Irma went to Russia to support Isadora in 1921. Irma got married to
Isadorafs secretary and the school manager Ilya Ilyich Schneider (1891-1980). Iram continued to teach in Moscow after Isadora left Russia
for Germany to solve the school's financial problem at the end of Sept.
1924. After Irma divorced with Schneider, she went on the US and Canadian tour with her pupils from December 10, 1928
to Jan. 24, 1930. Irma decided to stay in USA to teach and perform Isadora's legacy. Irma
opened Duncan Dance School in NYC and worked with Anna Duncan. They taught
many of the third generation Duncan Dancers such as Mignon Garland, Julia
Levien (1911-2006), Hortense Kooluris (Sept. 22, 1914- Feb. 8, 2007), etc. Irma gave her last public performance on Jan 25, 1934 at Madison Square Garden, NY after her marriage with Sherman Rogers.
Irma published "Isadora Duncan's Russian Days & Her Last Years in France (1929)," "The Technique of Isadora Duncan (1937)," "Isadora Duncan, Pioneer in the Art of Dance (1958),"and her autobiography "Duncan Dancer/ Follow me (1965)."
New York Public Library has Isadora Duncan Collection of Irma Duncan, Duncan (Irma) Collection of Isadora Duncan Materials, Duncan (Irma) Music Scores, and Duncan (Irma) Papers, 1905-1977. |
|
|
|
|
|
Lisa Duncan (Elizabeth (Lisa) Milker)
|
|
b. Dresden, Germany on Dec. 27, 1898 / d. Dresden, Germany on Jan. 24,
1976 |
|
|
|
|
|
Margot Duncan (Margot (Gretel) Jehle)
|
|
b. Berlin in June, 1900 / d. Paris? in 1925
In 1921, Margot stopped dancing due to her medical problem. She died while
Isadora was in Paris. |
|
|
|
|
|
Maria-Theresa Duncan (Maria-Theresa Kruger)
|
|
b.Dresden, Germany on April 16, 1895 / d. NY, USA on Dec. 14, 1987
Maria-Theresa Kruger was born of a German father and a Polish mother.
Maria-Theresa did not go to Russia with Isadora and Irma in 1921 because
she was about to marry Stephen Bourgeuois and wanted to dance and teach
in USA.
The First Lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1845), invited Maria-Theresa to have a dance concert at the White
House on May 2, 1933.
Maria-Theresa established Isadora Duncan Dance International Institute with her pupil Kay Bardsley in 1977. Maria-Theresa kept dancing and teaching
not only Isadora's original dances, but also her own dances in NYC until
she was 90. She always said, "Don't do Isadora Duncan dances. She
didn't want people to; she said those were the creations of her own soul
(Fina, 2003, p12)." |
|
|
|
Other Pupils |
|
|
|
|
Isabelle Branche, Temple Duncan, Gerda, Stephanie Dumbrovska, Jacoba Van
der Pas, Frya, Suzanna, Elsa, Mathilde, Marie, Emma, Marta, etc. |
Pupils of Dionysion in Bellevue, France, opened on June 28, 1914.
|
|
Valia Petrishcheva, who went to Russia to teach from 1922 to 1923. |
Pupils in NY
Pupils in Geneva, Switzerland.
Pupils of Isadora Duncan State School (Isadora Duncan Moscow School) in Russia, opened on Dec. 3, 1921 and closed in 1949.
|
|
Pupils who went on the US and Canadian tour with Irma Duncan from December
10, 1928 to Jan. 24, 1930:
Alexandra (Shura) Aksenova (1911-1958), Elena (lyola) Terentieva (1913-),
Elizaveta (Liza) Belova (1910-), Lily Dikovskaya (1913-), Maria (Mussia)
Mysovskaya (1913-), Maria Toropchenova (1911-1943), Tamara Lobanovskaya,
Tamara Semenova (1913-), Valentina Boye (1912-), Vera Golovina (1912-)
Maria (Marussia) Borisove (1910-) came back to Russia in 1929
Other pupils:
Doda Ozhegova (1910-1948), Elena Fedorovskaya (1913-), Evgenia Ovsiannikova,
Kyra Khachaturova, Lidochka Lozovaya, Linda Lozovaya, Lucy Flaxman, Marianna
Yaroslavskaya, Moura Babad, Natasha Nekrasova, Yulia Vashentseva (1911-),
etc.
The school was established in Prechistenka 20, Moscow where Isadora and
Irma had lived, on Dec. 3, 1921. While Isadora left Russia and after she
died, Irma kept teaching pupils. After Irma left for USA, Schneider organized
the school; Tamara Lobanovskaya was the artistic director from 1930 to 1939, and Elena
Terentieva was the artistic director until the school closed in 1949.
The school gave the last concert at Tchaikovsky Hall on April 7, 1949. |
Pupils of Elizabeth Duncan Schule (School) in Darmstadt, Germany, opend on Dec. 17, 1911
|
|
Anita Zahn
|
|
b. Baden-Baden, Germany in 1903 / d. Grants Pass, Oregon, on Nov. 3, 1994
Zahn was one of the nine Elizabeth Duncan School pupils who were brought
to USA at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. She left USA for Switzerland
in 1920 and returned to USA in 1922. She started teaching Duncan Dance
in 1924 and became the director of the Elizabeth Duncan School in NY in
the late 1920s; she later established Anita Zahn School of Ducnan Dancing.
She taught many Duncan Dancers including Hortense Kooluris, Jeanne Bresciani
and Sylvia Gold, etc. in NY and arranged Duncan Dance performances until
mid 1960s. She moved to Oregon from NY in 1986 and died in Grants Pass
in 1994. |
|
|
|
Erna Lane
|
|
b. Munich, Germany / d. West Stockbridge, Mass. on Jun. 28, 1996 |
|
|
|
Riva Hoffman |
|
|
References
Bardsley, Kay. "Isadora Duncan's
First School: The First Generation Founders of the Tradition" Dance Research
Collage A Variety of Subjects Embracing The Abstract and the Practical,
Congress on Research in Dance Inc. 1979.
Blair, Fredrika. Isadora Portrait of the Artist as a
Woman, McGraw-Hill Book Company, NY, 1986.
Deutsches Tanzarchiv Koln. Isadora & Elizabeth Duncan in Germany, Wienand, Koln, 2000.
Duncan, Irma. & Macdougall, Allan Ross. Isadora Duncan's Russian Days &
Her Last Years in France, CoviciFriede, NY, 1929.
Duncan, Isadora. My Life, Boni and
Liveright, NY, 1927.
Fina, Pamela De. Maria Theresa Divine Being Guided by a Higher Order The Adopted Daughter of Isadora Duncan, Dorrance Publishing Co. Inc., PA, 2003.
Gold, Sylvia. "Isadora Duncan Heritage," A Selection of Isadora Duncan Dances, The Sutton Movement Writing Press / The Center for Sutton Movement Writing,
Inc., CA, 1984. P10.
Isadora Duncan International Institute. http://www.isadoraduncan.net, NY
Nahumck, Nadia Chilokovsky & Nicholas. "A Brief Who's Who of Duncan
Dance in America" and "Transmission of the Duncan Repertory in
America,"Isadora
Duncan The Dances, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D. C. 1994. Pp.
520-523.
New York Public Library Digital Library Collections. Biographical History Zahn (Anita) professional and personal papers, c. 1920-1991. NY
New York Times. "Anita Zahn, 91 Teacher of Dance." NY. December 19, 1994.
Roslavleva, Natalia. Prechistenka 20: The Isadora Duncan School in Moscow (Dance Perspectives
64), Marcel Dekker, Inc., NY, 1975 <New>
|Archives | Biography | Books | Chronology | Duncan Dance Repertoire |
Duncan Dancers & Dance Companies |
Historical Transition of Duncan Dance |
News |
Other Products | Pictures & Drawings |
Quotations | Videos | Search, Copyright & Contact Info. |
Isadora Duncan's Web Links
|
