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Isadora's Life Events
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This Page Last Modified on Feb. 13, 2007

Year Age Isadora's Life Events 

1869 
 A bank owner and a connoisseur of arts, Joseph Charles Duncan (1819-1898), who
is a son of Joseph Moulder Duncan and Harriett Bioren, gets married to a musician
(music teacher) Mary Isadora (Dora) Gray (1849-1922), who is a daughter of
Colonel and California State Senator Thomas Gray and Mary Gorman, on June 26. 

1871 
 Mary Elizabeth Bioren (Elizabeth Duncan) (1871-1948) is born on Nov. 8 as the
oldest of four children of Joseph and Dora Gray Duncan in San Francisco,
California, USA (Elizabeth died in Tubingen near Stuttgart, Germany in 1948). 

1873 
 Augustin (1873-1954) is born on April 17 to Joseph and Dora Duncan. 

1874 
 Raymond (1874-1966) is born on Nov. 1 to Joseph and Dora Duncan.
 
1877 ..0
 Angela Isadora (Isadora Duncan) is born on May 26. 
 Isadora is taken to Old St. Mary's Church in San Francisco to be christened on
Oct. 13.
 (In "Education and the Dance," "The Art of the Dance," Isadora says, "When I
found my first school in 1905, I was only twenty-two years old (P88). Augustin
testified that Isadora was born on May 27, 1878. However, according to Raymond
and Isadora's baptismal record, she was born on May 26, 1877.) 
 While Isadora is a baby, her parents divorce due to the bankruptcy of her
father's banks. 

1877 ..2-3
 The Duncan family suffers from a fire, which is Isadora's first memory. 

1882 ..5
 The Duncan family often moves to new places due to their poverty (According to
Isadora, her family moved 15 times in two years). Isadora enters a public school,
Cole Elementary School.
 
1883 ..6
 Isadora electrifies her audience by reciting William Haines Lytle's " Antony to
Cleopatra. " Isadora gathers half a dozen children and teaches them dance. Their
parents pay her the tuition. 

1884 ..7
 Isadora first meets her father. 

1887 ..10
 Isadora's classes become very popular.

1888 ..11
 Isadora leaves her elementary school to earn more money.
 Elizabeth teaches older pupils " Society dancing. " Isadora carries a torch for
a chemist Vernon who is a pupil of Elizabeth. 

1889 ..12
 Isadora decides to live to fight against marriage and for the emancipation of
women. Augustin opens a theatre. Isadora dances there. 

1890 ..13 about
 Isadora has her first dance recital with her family at the First Unitarian
Church in Oakland, California. 

1892 ..15
 Isadora is registered as a dance teacher in the Oakland Directory.

1892 ..16 about
 Elizabeth, who had been living with her grandmother, rejoins Isadora's classes
as a teacher. They teach in many houses in San Francisco. 

1894 ..17
 Isadora is registered as a dance teacher in Lengley's San Francisco City
Directory. 

1895 ..18
 Isadora and her mother leave San Francisco for Chicago to join a great company
so that they can go abroad. Isadora dances at Masonic Temple Roof Garden and Club
Bohemia. Isadora dates a Polish poet and painter, Ivan Miroski. She gives up
finding a good job in Chicago and decides to go to New York. 
 Isadora joins John Augustin Daly's Theater Company in NY in Oct. Isadora
performs a pantomime with the great star Jane May. All of Isadora's family
members except Raymond come to stay in NY. 

1896 ..19
 Isadora performs as a fairy in " Midsummer Night's Dream, " a singer in " The
Geisha, " a spirit in " The Tempest, " and a dancer in " Much Ado About Nothing "
and " Meg Merrilies. " 

1897 ..20
 Isadora goes to the UK as a member of Daly's Company. While she is in London,
she takes ballet lessons with the Empire Theatre's ballet mistress, Ketti Lanner,
and gives recitals.
 
1898 ..21
 After Isadora sings in a quartette in " The Geisha, " she quits Daly's Company.
She has concerts with a composer, Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin, (1862-1901) at the
Music Room of Carnegie Hall on March 24. She dances with his music such as "
Narcissus, " " Ophelia, " and "Water-Nymphs." 
 "The New York Herald" prints her interview on Feb. 20. An American dance
magazine, " The Director, " also prints the same interview " Emotional Expression
" in the March issue and " A Lecture on the Philosophy of the Dance " in the
October-November issue. 
 Isadora's father Joseph Duncan dies in the shipwreck of the S.S. Mohegan on
October 14. 

1899 ..22
 Elizabeth's school moves from the Carnegie Hall studio to Windsor Hotel. Isadora
composes a dance to the entire poem of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) and dances with
Justin McCarthy's reading in NY in March. After the hotel fire on March 17, the
Duncan family, except Augustin, decides to leave New York for London, UK. The
family gives a farewell concert " The Happier Age of Gold " at Lyceum Theatre on
April 18.
 The Duncan family arrives in London in May. Isadora dances at private houses of
the high society and often goes to the British Museum to see Greek and Roman
antiquities. She receives a letter which tells of Miroski's death; she goes to
see Mrs. Miroski in Hammersmith, London. The Duncan family moves to Kensington,
London in July. In Sept., Elizabeth decides to go back to NY to earn money for
her family. 

1900 ..23
 The Duncan family rents a large studio in Warwick Square. 
 Isadora joins Benson's Company in Feb. She meets the director of the New Gallery
and a musician, Charles Halle, and gives three recitals at the gallery on March
16, July 4, and July 6. The Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward, comes
to see Isadora's recital at The Court Theatre on May 29. 
 While Isadora is in London, she goes to see the play of Henry Irving's company:
she sees the performance of Irving, Ellen Terry (1847-1928), and her son Edward
Henry Gordon Craig (1872-1966) in Cymbeline. 
 Raymond leaves London for Paris, France. Then Isadora, and her mother also leave
for Paris. Isadora often dances in Luxembourg and goes to see the Greek
collection of the Louvre Museum, the dancing figure of Opera, and the reliefs of
the Arc de Triomphe, etc. with Raymond. Isadora goes to the Great Exhibition
(Universal Exposition) of Paris and sees the dance of a Japanese great tragic
dancer, Sadi Yacca, (Sadayakko Kawakami: 1872-1946) and visits " Rodin Pavillon.
" Raymond returns to the USA for a concert tour. 

1901 ..24
 Isadora meets many artists such as Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), Eugene Carriere
(1849-1906), Loie Fuller (1862-1928) and Mary Desti (1871-1931) in France. She
joins a tour of Loie Fuller's company; she visits Berlin, Leipzig, Germany and
Vienna, Austria.
 Isadora has a performance at her studio on Dec. 12. 

1902 ..25
 After quitting Fuller's company in Feb., Isadora and her mother leave for
Budapest, Hungary. Isadora has her first official contract to dance before the
public at Urania Theatre on April 9 and 20. A Hungarian actor Oscar Beregi
(Oszkar Beregi: 1876-1965), who recites classical idylls and odes in her
performance, becomes her first lover (She calls him "Romeo" in " My Life "). She
decides to break off her relationship with Beregi for their future careers. 
 Elizabeth comes back from NY. Isadora has performances in Vienna and at Kunstler
Haus, Munich, in Dec. She goes to Florence, Italy, for a few weeks. 

1903 ..26
 Isadora has a concert with the Philharmonic Orchestra at Kroll's Opera House,
Berlin, in Jan. The audience calls her " Die gottliche, Heilige Isadora. " Her
dance causes a controversy because of her unconventional style of dance. She is
invited by Berlin Presse Verein to give a lecture in March (Her lecture was
published as " Der Tanz der Zukunft (The Dance of the Future) " late in 1903). 
 Isadora has concerts at Theatre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris from May 30 to June 13.
A Spanish artist Jose Clara (1878-1958) comes to see her performance. Isadora met
a French artist Jules Felix Grandjouan (1875-1968).
 Isadora receives an invitation to take part in the Bayreuth Festival the next
year from Frau Cosima (1837-1930), the widow of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) on
August 3. Isadora starts studying his music. 
 Isadora meets a French artist Valentine Lecomte (1872?) who draws her dancing.
 Raymond comes back from the USA, and the Duncan family travels to Greece and
buys land in Kopanos. Isadora has a performance at the Royal Theatre in Athens on
Nov. 29. The Greek Royal family, including King George, comes to see it. The
Duncan family leaves Greece for Vienna with Greek chorus boys and their Byzantine
priest professor. 

1904 ..27
 The Greek chorus boys and priest go back to their home after their performances
with Isadora in Vienna, Munich and Berlin. 
 Isadora goes to Bayreuth, Germany with Mary Desti to meet Frau Cosima and
performs in Tannhauser in the festival in May. Beregi calls on Isadora on a few
days while she is there.
 Isadora becomes close to Heinrich Thode (1857-1920), a son-in-law of Frau
Cosima, a German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) and King
Ferdinand of Bulgaria (1861-1948). 
 Isadora opens her first dance school in Grunewald, Germany, on Dec. 1. Elizabeth
works there as the director. They give pupils free room, board, and instruction.
Their school becomes known as " Forest School. " 
 Isadora meets a British scenic designer, Edward Gordon Craig in Berlin in Dec;
they fall in love (According to " My Life, " they first met in 1905. However,
according to Craig's day books, they met in Dec. 1904). She calls him " Ted, "
and he calls her "Topsy."
 Isadora first visits Russia on Dec. 25 (Dec. 12 according to the Russian
Calendar). She makes her Russian debut at the Hall of Nobles, St. Petersburg, on
Dec. 26 and 29 (In Russia, Isadora was introduced as "Aisedora" due to a
phonetical transcription error at that). Grand Duke Michael (1878-1918),
Kschinsky, Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), Serge Diaghlieff (Sergei Diaghilev:
1872-1929), Michel Fokine (1880-1942), Marius Petitpa (1818-1910), Leon Bakst
(1866-1924), etc. come to see her performance. 

1905 ..28
 Isadora goes to Russia with Craig to have performances in St. Petersburg,
Moscow, and Kiev in Feb. The director of the Moscow Art Theatre Konstantin
(Constantin) Sergeevich Stanislavsky (Stanislavski) (1863-1938) comes to see her
performance in Moscow on Feb. 6.
 Isadora deliever a lecture about the dance as an art of liberation and the right
of women to bear children with or without marriage at Philharmonic Saal.
 Twenty pupils, including Anna Denzler (1894-1980) from Zurich, Maria-Theresa
Kruger (1895-1987) from Dresden, Irma Dorette Ehrich-Grimme (1897-1977) from
Schleswig-Holstein near Hamburg, Elizabeth (Lisa) Milker (1898-1976) from
Dresden, Margot (Gretel) Jehle (1900-1925) from Berlin, and Erica Lohman
(1901-1984) from Hamburg, join Isadora's school. Those pupils are called
"Duncaninchen" or " Little Duncans " and have their first public performance with
Isadora at the Royal Opera House (Kroll) on July 20. 
 Isadora has performances in Brussels, Netherlands, Stockholm, etc.
 Maurice Magnus (1876-1920) becomes Isadora's and Craig's assistant (He worked
until 1907). 

1906 ..29
 Isadora has performances in Denmark, Sweden (Ostermalms Theater in Stockholm
from May 1 to May 15) and Germany in spring. She meets a Russian-born American
Painter Abraham Walkowitz (1878-1965) at Rodin's studio in France. Craig
publishes " Sechs Bewegungsstudien " which consists of Isadora's lithographs. She
hires a nurse, Marie Kist, in August. The daughter of Isadora and Craig, Deirdre,
is born on Sept. 24. Isadora meets the great Italian actress Eleonora Duse
(1858-1924) in the fall, and Isadora and Craig go to Florence, Italy, to create
the set of " Ibsen's Rosmersholm " for Duse in the middle of Nov. (Craig had met
Duse in 1905). Isadora has performances in Warsaw, Poland, from Dec. 18 to Jan.
10, 1907. 

1907 ..30
 While Isadora is in Amsterdam, Netherlands for performances in Jan., she falls
sick and has to cancel performances. She goes to Nice to support Craig. who works
for Duse, in Feb. She has performances in Amsterdam on April 3, Hague on 4 and 8,
Utrecht on 6, Leiden on 10, and Haarlem on 12, Sweden from May 4 to 15,
Baden-Baden on June 4 and 7, and Aug 24, Lucerne on June, 13, Zurich on June 15,
Berlin on June 28, and Mannheim on July 12, Hamburg on July 24, Munich on August
20 and 22, Sept. 1 and 3 and Nov. 20. 
 Isadora terminates her relationship with Craig in fall although they keep on
exchanging letters.
 Isadora goes to St. Petersburg with Elizabeth and their pupils at the end of
Dec. 

1908 ..31
 Isadora meets Stanislavsky in Moscow in Jan (According to Ranneye Utro on Jan.
9, Stanislavski revealed his plan to open a school taught by Isadora).
 Isadora handles a Russian tour in early April. 
 Isadora's school in Grunewald closes in April, and her pupils move to La
Verriere, France, in May. They have performances at Duke of York's Theatre,
London, in July. Queen Alexandra and an American dancer Ruth St. Denis
(1879-1968) come to see their performances. 
 In August, Isadora first returns to the USA to have performances in New York,
Boston, and Washington D.C. She meets many American artists such as George Grey
Barnard (1863-1938), David Belasco (1853-1931), Robert Henri (1865-1929), George
Wesley Bellows (1882-1925), Percy MacKaye (1875 - 1956), Max Eastman (1883-1969),
etc. US President Theodore Roosevelt comes to see her performance in D.C. She has
performances with the orchestra of Walter Damrosch (1862-1950) at the
Metropolitan Opera House on Nov. 6. She leaves the USA for France on Dec. 30.
 Isadora buys a house and huge studio in Neuilly, France, and works with a
musician Hener Skene there. (According to her manager Allan Ross Macdougall
(1893-1956), she bought the studio in 1909.) 

1909 ..32
 Isadora has performances at Theatre Lyrique de la Gaite, France from Jan. to
Feb. and from May to June. A French sculptor Emile Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929)
comes to see her dance. 
 Isadora meets a millionaire Paris Eugene Singer (1867-1932) who is a son of
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875), the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine
Company (Isadora calls him " Lohengrin, " and they meet in 1908 in My Life).
Paris Singer offers his financial support for Isadora's school, and they fall in
love. They travel to Italy. 
 Isadora has performances in Russia. While she is in Russia, she meets
Stanislavsky and Craig again (They are working together). 
 Although Isadora realizes her pregnancy in Sept., she leaves for USA to have
performances with Walter Damrosch from Oct. to Dec. She leaves for Europe after
her farewell performance at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 2. 

1910 ..33
 Isadora travels to Egypt, the UK, etc. with Singer. The son of Isadora and
Singer, Patrick Augustus Duncan, is born in Beaulieu, France on May 1. 

1911 ..34
 Isadora has performances at Chatelet Theatre, Paris on Jan. 18 and Carnegie
Hall, NY on Feb. 15 and 20 and March 4, and in Boston onFeb. 23, in St. Louis on
March 28, and NY on March 31. While she is in USA, she meets an American baritone
David Scull Bispham (1857-1921). 
 Elizabeth opens her dance school " Elizabeth Duncan Schule (Elizabeth Duncan
School) " in Darmstadt, Germany on Dec. 17. 

1912 ..35
 Isadora has performances in Rome, etc. 

1913 ..36
 Isadora has perfomrances in Russia, Germany, and France. 
 Isadora has a series of conferences " Ce que doit etre la danse " with Rodin,
Carriere, and Josephin Paladin in Trocadero in March.
 While Isadora is in Russia with her accompanist Skene in Jan, she sends an open
letter to a Petersburg newspaper to tell her idea to create a theatre of Greek
Dance in Moscow and starts seeing hallucinations. Her children Deirdre and
Patrick and their nurse Annie Sim are accidentally drowned in a trafic accident
in the Seine on April 19 (The driver Paul Morverand was in police custody).
Isadora immediately writes to Craig telling the death of their child Deirdre.
After their funeral at her studio, Isadora's letter of thanks appears on " The
New York Times " on April 29. In the letter, she says, " My friends have helped
me to realize what alone could comfort me. That all men are my brothes, all women
are my sisters and all little children on earth are my children. " 
 Isadora decides to work for refugees in Albania with her family. 

1914 ..37
 Singer buys a hotel in Bellevue, France, for Isadora's new school. 50 pupils
join the school, and Isadora starts teaching there on June 28: her first pupils
from her school in 1905 assist her with teaching. The school becomes known as
"Dionysion." Rodin often comes to sketch her pupils. 
 In August, Isadora is delivered of a son, but he dies within a few hours (The
father of the son was an Italian sculptor, but he never knew that). After the
outbreak of World War I, she gives Les Dames de France her school in Bellevue as
an army hospital, and Augustin takes the pupils to NY in Sept. Elizabeth also
moves with her nine pupils including Anita Zahn (1904-1994) to NY.
 While Isadora stays in France for a few months, she has a close relationship
with a doctor Andre from the army hospital. She arrives in NY to join her family
and pupils on Nov. 24. Her original pupils Anna, Maria-Theresa, Irma, Elizabeth,
Margot, and Erica, called " The Isadorables (Les Isadorables) " or " Isadora
Duncan Dancers, " make their American debut with Isadora at Carnegie Hall, NY, on
Dec. 3. 

1915 ..38
 Isadora has performances at the Metropolitan Opera House and Century Theater.
While she is in NY, she meets a German-born American photographer Arnold Genthe
(1869-1942) and an American pianist George Copeland (1882-1971.) They work
together. After she and her pupils leave the USA on May 6, she fires her manager,
Frederick Toye. 
 Isadora and her pupils have performances at the Grand Opera House in Zurich and
on the lawn of their hotel. 
 Isadora goes to Greece to open a school, but she gives up the idea. Her school
finally moves to Geneva, Switzerland. 

1916 ..39
 Isadora has performances in Paris on April 9 and 29 and with her pupils in
Geneva. 
 Isadora decides to go on a South America tour with a French pianist Maurice
Dumesnil (1886-1974) and Augustin to get money to manage her school in
Switzerland. She has performances at the Colisseo Theatre, in Buenos Aires,
Argentine, and in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo, Brazil
from July to Sept. However, while she is in South America, her young pupils in
Switzerland have to go back to their home due to the school's financial problem. 
 Isadora arrives in NY from South America on Sept. 27 and sends Augustin to
Switzerland to bring back her pupils. Only six elder pupils, Isadorables, come to
NY to join Isadora. She has a performance at the Metropolitan Opera House, NY,
with Singer's support on Nov. 21. Mary Fanton Roberts (1871-1956), Anna Pavlova,
Otto Kahn (1867-1934), the Marquis de Polgnac, Mayor Mitchell, etc. come to see
her performance.
 Isadora and Allan Ross Macdugall (Dougie), who becomes her private secretary, go
on vacation in Cuba for a few weeks. 
 Isadora terminates her relationship with Singer (However, Singer kept on
supporting Isadora until she died). 

1917 ..40
 Isadora goes on a California tour. She visits her mother in San Francisco. Her
first crush, Vernon, comes to see her performance. She meets an American musician
Harold Bauer (1873-1951), and they work together. Isadora officially adopts
Isadorables as her daughters. 

1918 ..41
 Isadora has a performance with Bauer at Columbia Theater on Jan. 3.
 Isadora goes back to France. Her secretary, Christine Dallies, introduces a
charismatic American pianist Walter Morse Rummel (1887-1953) to Isadora (she
often calls him " my Archangel " in " My Life "). They work together and fall in
love. 

1919 ..42
 Isadora sells her school in Bellevue and buys a house in Passy. 
 Isadora travels to North Africa for a month to open a school, but she gives up
the idea. 

1920 ..43
 Isadora has performances at the Trocadero with a conductor Georges Rabani in
March and April and with Rabani and Rummel in June. The Isadorables come to join
the performances.
 Isadora goes to Greece with the Isadorables, Rummel and a Luxembourg-born
American photographer, Edward Steichen, (1879-1973) to open a school in Athens
and reform the house in Kopanos, but she gives up the ideas. In Athens, Steichen
takes many pictures.
 Elizabeth Duncan School moves to Switzerland. 

1921 ..44
 Erica leaves the Isadorables to practice painting. 
 Isadora has performances with Rummel in Holland in Jan., London in April and May
and Brussels on May 2. 
 Isadora and Rummel break up due to his love affair with one of the Isadorables
Anna. After Anna leaves the Isadorables, Rummel stops working with Isadora. 
 While Isadora has performances in London in April, a Bolshevist leader Leonid
Krassine (Krasin: 1870-1926) comes to offer her a contract to open a school in
Russia. Isadora requests pupils, a school, a great hall and the opportunity to
dance for the masses. After receiving the telegraph from the Russian People's
Commissar of Education, Anatole Vasilief Lunacharsky (1875-1933), Isadora decides
to go to Russia. Isadora and Irma take S.S Baltanic for Russia in the middle of
July (Margot had a medical problem; Maria-Theresa and Elizabeth decided not to go
with them). They arrive in Reval on July 19 and Moscow on July 24.
 Ilya Ilyich Schneider (1891-1980), who is a member of the press of the People's
Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and a teacher of the history and aesthethics of
dance at the School of Ballet, becomes Isadora's manager. 
 Isadora meets the People's Commissar of Physical Education, Podvowsky, in
August. Isadora and Irma start living in a house on Pretchistenka (Prechistenka)
Street where a Moscow Opera Ballerina, Balachova (Balashova) used to live. They
are given the title of " paiok rabotnikof umstvienova truda " and regarded as
brain-workers.
 Isadora chooses 50 pupils out of hundreds of children in Oct. and starts
teaching them dance (According to Natalia Roslavleva (1907-1977), Isadora started
teaching in Sept.). She meets a Russian poet, Sergei Alexandrovich Esenin
(1895-1925), in Nov. at an evening party, held by a well-known futurist artist
and stage decorator for the Kamerny Theatre, George Jacouloff. Isadora and Esenin
fall in love; he calls her "Sidora." She has a performance with 150 pupils at the
Bolshoi Theatre on Nov. 7. The founder of the Bolsheviks and leader of the
Russian Revolution Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924), a Russian play-writer and
theater critic Osaf Litovsky, and an actor and dancer of Kamerny Theatre,
Alexander Rumnev (1899-1965) come to see the performance (Rumnov became a good
friend of Isadora). " Isadora Duncan State School " officially opens at her house
on Dec. 3 (Only 40 out of 150 pupils could remain due to the limitations of the
funds and capacity of the dorm for pupils). Pianists Pyotr Luboshitz and Mark
Meitchik and a nurse Frosia work there. Isadora has performances at the Zimin
Theatre and dances for an audience of working people in Dec. The school carries
on an audition at the end of Dec. (The school had 11 boys, but one by one they
left)
 Elizabeth Duncan School moves to Karl Eanst Osthaus's Hohenhof and then moves to
the Kavaliersbau in Potsdam. 

1922 ..45
 Isadora has a performance in Petrograd, Russia.
 Dora Gray Duncan, Isadora's mother, dies at Raymond's house in Paris on April
12. 
 Isadora marries Esenin on May 2. They leave Russia for Germany, France and
finally the USA as their honeymoon on May 9 (Isadora took Esenine out of Russia
because she wanted him to take a medical exam and receive medical care, and see
all that Europe had of beauty, and all that America had of wonder). Irma keeps on
teaching in Russia.
 While Isadora and Esenin are in Germany, they meet a Russian author Maxim Gorky
(Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov:1868-1936) in Berlin and hire Lola Kinel as their
secretary in Wiesbaden. 
 While Isadora and Esenin are in France, they hire a Russian secretary Vladimir
Vetlugin.
 Isadora arrives in NY with Esenin and Vetlugin on Oct. 1 to have performances in
NY, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis,
Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. However, they are
detained by the immigration authorities due to their citizenship (They were
released the next day). Isadora has a performance at the Carnegie Hall on Oct. 7.
Isadora's attitude and speech " This is red! So am I! It is the color of life and
vigor. You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you! (Duncan, Irma. And
Macdougall, Allan Ross. " Isadora Duncan's Russian Days and Her Last Years in
France " P152.) " during her performance at Symphony Hall, Boston, on Oct. 11
cause controversy and the cancellation of her performances (e.g. the performace
at the Church of St. Mark's in the Bouwerie on Christmas Eve). Lunacharsky tells
Schneider that the school has been crossed off the state budget on Nov. 11.
 Isadora goes on a tour with a pianist Max Rabinovitch from Nov. 22. They have
performances in Louisville, Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, Detroit, Cleveland,
Baltimore, Philadelphia.
 The relationship between Isadora and Esenin is getting worse while they are in
the USA. 

1923 ..46
 Isadora has farewell performances at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 13 and 15. When
Isadora, Esenin and their maid, Jeanne, leave the USA for France with S.S. George
Washington at the end of Jan., Isadora says, " Goodbye America. I shall never see
you again (Duncan, Irma. And Macdougall, Allan Ross. P167.). " (At that time they
had no money and had to borrow their fare from Singer.)
 Isadora has performances at Torockadero, France on Mary 27 and June 3. Her
secretary, Jo Milward, and Raymond support her performances in France. A Parisian
chronicler, Michel-Georges-Michel (1883-1985) comes to see her performance on May
27. After the first performance, she has a reception with her friends. Then,
Esenin causes a problem and is taken to Police. Isadora puts Esenin into a mental
hospital the next day, and he stays there for a few days. After the second
performance, Isadora and Esenin leave France for Germany.
 Isadora and Esenin come back to Moscow on August 5. She has performances in
Kislavodsk, Baku, Tiflis, and Batoum in Russia in August. She meets the President
of the Caucasian Republic, Tovarish Eleava in Tiflis. In Oct. she terminates her
relationship with Esenin, but they do not officially divorce. She dances to the
music of Schubert's " Ave Maria " in the first Octobrina Christening in Nov.
 Isadora realizes that her school in Russia is running short of funds and sends a
letter to " The Washington Post " to tell her situation on Dec. 14 (The letter
was reproduced in " The Washington Post " on Jan. 27, 1924). 

1924 ..47
 The leader of the Bolshevik party, Lenin, dies on Jan. 21. Isadora goes to the
Union House, where his body lay in state, and sees thousands of griefsticken
people. That inspires her to create two funeral marches for Lenin; "Revolutionary
Hymn" and "Funeral Song for the Revolutionary Heroes." 
 Isadora goes on a Ukrainian tour with a musician Zinoviev in Feb. She has a
performance with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in Leningrad in May. After
the performance in Witepsk, she has a car accident and says, " I was at first in
a daze and told myself that this must surely be the end! I have always believed
that my end would come in a motor accident (Duncan, Irma. And Macdougall, Allan
Ross. " Isadora Duncan's Russian Days and Her Last Years in France ": Pp240-241).
" She has to cancel performances in Leningrad due to the accident. She has
performances with a musician Mark Metchick in Kiev, Samara, Orenburg, Samarkand,
Tashkent, Ekaterinburg, and Vyatka from June to August. Isadora creates seven
dances " With Courage Comrades March in Step., " " One, Two, Three, Pioneers Are
We., " " The Young Guard., " " The Blacksmith (Forging the Keys of Freedom), " "
Dubinushka (A Work Song), " " The Warshavianka (In Memory of 1905), " and " The
Young Pioneers. " (They were ones of Isadora's last creations, and in addition to
the dances for the memory of Lenin, the pupils of Duncan School in Moscow danced
them all over Russia). 
 Isadora has her farewell performances at the Kamerny Theatre on Sept. 27 and 28
and at the Bolshoi Theatre on 29. Lunacharsky comes to the Bolshoi Theatre to
make a speech. 
 Isadora leaves Russia for Germany to solve her school's financial problem at the
end of Sept. Irma stays and keeps on teaching in Russia (the number of pupils had
been 500).
 Isadora has performances at the Bluthner Saal. 

1925 ..48
 Isadora comes to Paris, France, in Jan. Isadora meets a Russian pianist Victor
Ilyitch Seroff (1902-1979) at the Montmartre studio of Mrs. Marvine, and later
Isadora hires him.
 One of the Isadorables, Margot, dies in Feb. 
 Isadora stays at Raymond's house in Nice (Raymond had carried on a flourishing
business in hand woven carpets and fabrics for dresses and draperies in France). 
 Isadora decides to publish her memoirs to solve her financial problem and bring
her pupils in Moscow to Paris (First she wanted to publish articles about her
dance, but nobody was interested in it). 
 In Fall, Isadora comes to Paris to open a school; a novelist and her old
secretary Andre Arnyvelde supports her plan (Isadora wanted to bring Russian
pupils to France). However, she gives up the idea and returns to Nice 
 Elizabeth Duncan School moves to Klessheim Castle near Salzburg.
 Esenin commits suicide at the hotel in Leningrad, where he stayed with Isadora,
on Dec. 27. After his death, Isadora sends a telegraph to the press of Paris. 

1926 ..49
 Isadora has a plan to open a paying school in Nice to support her Russian
school. She has a performance at her studio called " Studio D'Isadora Duncan " in
Nice on Good Friday. 
 Anna has a perfomance at the Theatre Guild, NY on May 2.
 Isadora has performances on Sept. 10 and 14 at her studio. While she dances on
Sept. 14, a French poet Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) reads " Mariees de la Tour
Eiffel " and "Orphee" with Marcel Herrand (1897-1953). 
 Isadora receives notice from a Moscow court which tells that she is the heiress
of Esenin's royalty from his poems. However on Nov. 24, she decides not to
inherit it although she has no money (she suggested that his fortune be given to
his mother and sister). On Nov. 25, Isadora's property in Neuilly is seized by
tax authorities. 
 Isadora's Russian pupils, including Irma, go on a China tour without Isadora's
permission, and that causes her anger. 

1927 ..50
 Isadora makes an agreement to publish her memoirs " My Life " through W.A.
Bradley in Jan. Isadora and her friends have a plan to buy back the house in
Neuilly. Isadora finishes writing (telling) her memoirs and plans for her second
book of memoirs " My Two Years in Bolshevik Russia_h (Her secretary Ruth Nickson
takes dictation of her story).
 Irma comes to Paris to see Isadora and goes back to Russia.
 Isadora has her last performance at the Mogador Theater in Paris on July 8. She
dances to Cesar Franck's " Redemption, " Schubert's " Ave Maria, " Wagner's "
Tannhauser Overture, " " Love-Death of Isolde, " etc.
 Singer comes to see Isadora and offers financial support on Sept. 12.
 Isadora is accidentally killed in an automobile accident on Wednesday, Sept. 14
(She was in a Bugatti driven by Benoit Falchetto in Nice. Before getting into the
car, she said to her friend, Mery Desti, " Adieu, mes amis. Je vais a la gloire!
(Good-bye, my friends, I am off to glory). " (Duncan, Irma. And Macdougall:
P353.)) 
 About 4000 people come to Isadora's funeral ceremony, and her ashes are buried
in the columbarium of Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, on Sept. 19. 

*

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.
Centre national de la danse. Jules Grandjouan 
Desti, Mary. The Untold Story: The Life of Isadora Duncan, 1921-1927, Horace
Liveright, NY, 1929.
Deutsches Tanzarchiv Koln. Isadora and Elizabeth Duncan in Germany, Wienand,
Koln, 2000.
Drexel, Constance. " Isadora Duncan Declares Soviet Completely Abandons Her
School " The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Jan 27, 1924. PEA3, 1.
Duncan, Irma. Isadora Duncan, Pioneer in the Art of Dance, New York Public
Library, NY, 1958.
Duncan, Irma. And Macdougall, Allan Ross. Isadora Duncan's Russian Days and Her
Last Years in France, CoviciFriede, NY, 1929. Pp240-241. P353.
Duncan, Isadora. Cheney, Sheldon W. [Ed.] " Education and the Dance " The Art of
the Dance, Theater Art Inc./Helen Hacket, Inc., NY, 1928. P88.
Duncan, Isadora. " Isadora Duncan's Solace ", New York Times, N.Y, Apr 29, 1913.
P3.
Duncan, Isadora. My Life, Boni and Liveright, NY, 1927.
Google
Fina, Pamela De. Maria Theresa Divine Being Guided by a Higher Order The Adopted
Daughter of Isadora Duncan, Dorrance Publishing Co. Inc., PA, 2003.
Kurth, Peter. Isadora A Sensational Life, Little Brown and Company, Boston, NY,
London, 2001.
Loewenthal, Lillian. The Search for Isadora: The Legend and Legacy of Isadora
Duncan, A Dance Horizons Book, NJ, 1993.
Merle, Linda. Welcome to the Mason/Merle Family Website. 2002.
Macdougall, Allan Ross. Isadora: A Revolutionary in Art and Love, Thomas Nelson,
NY, 1960.
Ranneye Utro. Moscow, Jan. 9, 1908.
Roslavleva, Natalia. Prechistenka 20: The Isadora Duncan Schools in Moscow (Dance
Perspectives 64), Marcel Dekker, Inc. NY, 1975. 
Slobodkina, Olga. My Dear Lori, Mar.4, 2006.
Wikipdia
If you find errors, please let me know via E-mail. 
Isadora Duncan's Web Links

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