Thank you for posting. However, the video at the Parthenon looks fake and the car at the end of the video is (according to the voice in French, which says "noyade des enfants d'Isadora Duncan") the car where her children drowned in Paris.
hi odasestepes - yes, there's been doubt expressed about the authenticity of the film - the only footage acknowledged as authentic is that of isadora performing at an outdoor gathering. and yes, after i listened again i realised it was the car the children were in, not isadora - she did of course die in a car accident but there was no water involved. thanks for your comment - cheers!
I think the news footage of the auto being towed out of the water shows the vehicle her children died in when it crashed into the Seine. The scarf incident was in a Bugatti racing car.
hi TheNaomiengland - i've heard a lot about her - and there are all the myths that have grown up on top of the truth - but she was quite a fascinating personality - do you like her?
I first heard of her in a play I was reading for my Fundamentals of Acting class, When She Danced by Martin Sherman. It's a pretty good play if anyone's interested in reading a playwright's version of a couple days in her life.
FURTHER TO BELOW: Careful examination of the line of the chin and the thrust of the neck, along with the hair-dressing and the hiking of the tunic all indicate Duncan herself or an extremely accurate fake (NOT LIKELY). An interesting documentary from France has further footage from the ship. The clothes she and Essenin are wearing all relate to news photos taken during their 1922 hold up in Ellis Island. Hope all of this filled in some gaps. Thanks for posting!
The temple dance IS very likely Isadora. The temple is the Temple of Poseidon which backs up on the sea. Edward Steichen (funded by Isadora's lover Paris Singer) took Duncan and her six "Isadorables" on a tour to photograph them in the great temples of Greece. Steichen states definitively in a memoir that he finally convinced the movie camera reticent Duncan to improvise while the camera ran. The ship footage is her arrival in America just before the notorious MARCHE SLAV incident.
hi ixisflower - thanks very much for your comment - i've seen this piece of footage about and the dancer identified as Isadora but then i've seen even more the film of her at an outdoor garden gathering and this described as the only time she was captured in celluloid. great to hear from a reputable memoir that she was filmed a second time - and so this may be that footage, thanks again!
Beautiful compilation. There doesn't seem to be much film of Isadora--I wonder why? She would seem to be a natural subject.
The Parthenon dance is definitely not authentic; the sea is nowhere near the ruins. Looks like a stage, and the dancer is not Isadora. The car being recovered from the river is the one in which her two children were drowned in 1913.
thanks for the corrections and extensions to the film and my comment on it - posting is often a learning experience
as i put in the video i had no idea as to the authenticity of the footage - it seems to have been shot at an antique site by the sea - which the parthenon is not, well, not by the sea
@zsqpwxxeh Duncan wasn't impressed with the quality of film during her time. Until sound film came in, movies were filmed - and projected - by hand cranking the camera. So, filming and projection speeds were erratic and not consistent. Meaning: the speed and flow of her dancing as people would see it in a movie theater might be way off. Film was also silent and that probably didn't impress her, either.
yes, you are right, redgrave was very right for the role, particularly in that iconoclastic stage of her career
and i think there is something of the gypsy wanderer about both anna pavlova and isador duncan, though very different kinds of dancers and so unalike in other ways
Thank you - a very evocative compilation, and of course perfect music. I can see why Vanessa Redgrave was cast to play her on film, but I also recall the wonderful Vivian Pickles on TV. Her larger than life personality comes across in the photos as you say, and its easy to see why Ashton was smitten.
Thank you for posting. However, the video at the Parthenon looks fake and the car at the end of the video is (according to the voice in French, which says "noyade des enfants d'Isadora Duncan") the car where her children drowned in Paris.
odasestepes 2 weeks ago
hi odasestepes - yes, there's been doubt expressed about the authenticity of the film - the only footage acknowledged as authentic is that of isadora performing at an outdoor gathering. and yes, after i listened again i realised it was the car the children were in, not isadora - she did of course die in a car accident but there was no water involved. thanks for your comment - cheers!
nickwallacesmith 2 weeks ago
the video at the parthenon is can not be her... there is no grace of line that is apparent in all the stills of Isadora Duncan
pupshoo 2 months ago
hi pupshoo - yes, i'd always understood there was only one moving record of isadora - someone suggested who the parthenon dancer was. cheers
nickwallacesmith 2 months ago
I think the news footage of the auto being towed out of the water shows the vehicle her children died in when it crashed into the Seine. The scarf incident was in a Bugatti racing car.
flicker2754 6 months ago
hi flicker2754 - yes, i'm sure you are right - thanks for that, really appreciated
nickwallacesmith 6 months ago
nice
TheNaomiengland 10 months ago
hi TheNaomiengland - isn't it - makes her real in some way
nickwallacesmith 10 months ago
@nickwallacesmith do you like Mata Hari?
TheNaomiengland 10 months ago
hi TheNaomiengland - i've heard a lot about her - and there are all the myths that have grown up on top of the truth - but she was quite a fascinating personality - do you like her?
nickwallacesmith 10 months ago
I first heard of her in a play I was reading for my Fundamentals of Acting class, When She Danced by Martin Sherman. It's a pretty good play if anyone's interested in reading a playwright's version of a couple days in her life.
Zamdobber 1 year ago
@Zamdobber - thanks for that pointer - appreciated - always like to read a new take on things! thanks again, nick
nickwallacesmith 1 year ago
FURTHER TO BELOW: Careful examination of the line of the chin and the thrust of the neck, along with the hair-dressing and the hiking of the tunic all indicate Duncan herself or an extremely accurate fake (NOT LIKELY). An interesting documentary from France has further footage from the ship. The clothes she and Essenin are wearing all relate to news photos taken during their 1922 hold up in Ellis Island. Hope all of this filled in some gaps. Thanks for posting!
ixisflower 1 year ago
The temple dance IS very likely Isadora. The temple is the Temple of Poseidon which backs up on the sea. Edward Steichen (funded by Isadora's lover Paris Singer) took Duncan and her six "Isadorables" on a tour to photograph them in the great temples of Greece. Steichen states definitively in a memoir that he finally convinced the movie camera reticent Duncan to improvise while the camera ran. The ship footage is her arrival in America just before the notorious MARCHE SLAV incident.
ixisflower 1 year ago
hi ixisflower - thanks very much for your comment - i've seen this piece of footage about and the dancer identified as Isadora but then i've seen even more the film of her at an outdoor garden gathering and this described as the only time she was captured in celluloid. great to hear from a reputable memoir that she was filmed a second time - and so this may be that footage, thanks again!
nickwallacesmith 1 year ago
Beautiful compilation. There doesn't seem to be much film of Isadora--I wonder why? She would seem to be a natural subject.
The Parthenon dance is definitely not authentic; the sea is nowhere near the ruins. Looks like a stage, and the dancer is not Isadora. The car being recovered from the river is the one in which her two children were drowned in 1913.
zsqpwxxeh 1 year ago
hi zsqpwxxeh
thanks for the corrections and extensions to the film and my comment on it - posting is often a learning experience
as i put in the video i had no idea as to the authenticity of the footage - it seems to have been shot at an antique site by the sea - which the parthenon is not, well, not by the sea
nickwallacesmith 1 year ago
@zsqpwxxeh Duncan wasn't impressed with the quality of film during her time. Until sound film came in, movies were filmed - and projected - by hand cranking the camera. So, filming and projection speeds were erratic and not consistent. Meaning: the speed and flow of her dancing as people would see it in a movie theater might be way off. Film was also silent and that probably didn't impress her, either.
TheStockwell 1 year ago
Loved it. This free spirit should not be forgotten. Thank you for creating this and sharing.
HeideLove 2 years ago
these litle film fragments give a tiny but tantalizing idea of isadora don't they!
glad you liked the post, thanks, nick
nickwallacesmith 2 years ago
thanks for the appreciation nornsnornsnorns
yes, you are right, redgrave was very right for the role, particularly in that iconoclastic stage of her career
and i think there is something of the gypsy wanderer about both anna pavlova and isador duncan, though very different kinds of dancers and so unalike in other ways
nickwallacesmith 2 years ago
Thank you - a very evocative compilation, and of course perfect music. I can see why Vanessa Redgrave was cast to play her on film, but I also recall the wonderful Vivian Pickles on TV. Her larger than life personality comes across in the photos as you say, and its easy to see why Ashton was smitten.
nornsnornsnorns 2 years ago