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Isadora’s secret — 10 Comments

  1. You can get some impression of Isadora from Preston Sturges’s autobiography. His mother joined Isadora’s troupe and young Preston would tour around with them.

  2. Watching those in comparison I have to say I agree that Seymour is the closest. Closest in terms of putting her entire body into the dance. By this I mean that there’s a certain, well, meaty abandon within the precision of the movements of Seymour that I suspect was the fascination of Duncan in the original.

    Both precise and yet somehow weighty. Somehow the body is asserting itself through the movements and not being made subortinate to the movements as it clearly is the the “arty and light” Rojo rendition and the clearly “acted” Redgrave version.

    What I’m seeing in the clip that is perhaps closest in provenance is a dancer with heft rather than lift.

    That and the propensity to perform nearly nude, with distinct abandon, barefoot and probably pregnant no doubt lent extra attention to her breakaway ballet meets break dances.

  3. vanderleun: “heft rather than lift” is an excellent encapsulation of the difference between modern dance and ballet. And Duncan is widely considered the founder of modern dance.

    So, touché!

  4. I’d call that choreography an arrogant display of grace and spirit.

    Although, it would seem to me that’s crafted for the impossible: a young lady with the ego of maturity, of full adulthood.

    Nice.

  5. I didn’t view the entire pieces; yet my impression of the first two minutes is that Seymour/Duncan engaged the left arm as a counterpoint to the right arm’s movement; while the second dancer used the left arm as a brace or support: this could be why the second video focused on the movement of the right hand.

  6. Ben David: so glad you like them!

    Let me just say, though, that they take me a long time. Not because they take such a long time to write—they don’t, especially—but because they’re like icebergs. What you see is just a small part of where they lead me, which is usually to my YouTube addiction. I get so involved in watching dance videos that I can easily while away many an hour without even realizing how much time has passed.

    These dance posts can be dangerous undertakings. I have to ration them :-).

  7. I’ve taken up tai ji recently, and Seymour is projecting life force, life energy (chi) through movement. The others are merely dancing.

    Vanessa at times tiptoed-though-the-tulips in the movie and I really disliked her dancing at times.

  8. I am thankful for your occasional essays on dance and dancers, for it helps to remind me of d ifferences. You see, I get nothing out of watching most of the videos. I watched the video of Seymour, but could only get through the first three minutes or so — and that took two viewing sessions. It all looks silly to me.

    But not to you. I have the mental knowledge that there is work and artistry involved, but no emotional appreciation of it. You have both.

    Anyway, your posts on the matter help reinforce the idea to me that people have different tastes, and that a difference in taste is not a moral difference.

    Finally, I still very much benefit from your other posts as well. Thank you very much.

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