![]() King Edward VII, Gabriele d’Annunzio, Ernst Haeckel, Gordon Craig and Rodin the sculptor were listed among the admirers. Europe was quick to recognize a form of art in her dramatic dancing, and she established a ‘Temple of Art’ in Paris. In the same year she decided to go to Europe and made the trip with her mother and brothers on a cattleboat, the venture being financed with the aid of friends. ![]() ![]() She saved every one of the pupils at the risk of her life. She was teaching a class of children in the Hotel Windsor, New York, when the fire broke out on March 7, 1899, which leveled the structure. One of her first successes in New York was a dance version of ‘Omar Khayyam,’ in which she interpreted the spirit of the classic poem while the verses were recited by Justin Huntly McCarthy. In development of her idea she discarded customary costumes, appearing in filmy attire and with bare legs, a daring innovation in those days and one which brought many protests. The idea of ‘interpretive’ dancing came to her and she began to devise dance figures of her own. ‘For the first time I am writing for money now I am frightened that some quick accident might happen.’įrom a hesitant debut as a 15-year-old girl in California, Isadora Duncan’s dancing feet carried her across two continents to wealth, a certain degree of fame and a life crowded with adventure and tragedy.īorn in San Francisco in May, 1878, the daughter of Charles Duncan, a dancing teacher, she received early training in the art on which she was to leave an indelible impress. She seems to have had premonitions of her death as, in talking with a correspondent of the Associated Press on Tuesday, she said: Of late she had given much of her time to writing memoirs of her career, from which she hoped great things. Her affairs did not appear to prosper, and her Neuilly studio had to be sold to pay her debts. The doctors said her neck was broken and that death must have been instantaneous.Īt one time a stage idol, Miss Duncan had long devoted herself to the training of young dancers. Perks disengaged the scarf from the limp body. The chauffeur jammed on the brakes and he and Mrs. The end of the long scarf whipped over the side of the car, became entangled in the front wheel and jerked the dancer from her seat. “The idea of ‘interpretive’ dancing came to her.” With her was a French chauffeur, who was going to teach her to drive, and Mrs. Miss Duncan was killed last night as she was learning to drive her new car.Ī silken scarf of red–the color of which she was fond, and which seems to have symbolized her radicalism–fluttered about the neck of the dancer as she sped along the Promenade des Angels. He was asked to come to Nice by motor at once.Ī search at the American consulate here failed to show whether Miss Duncan had claimed American citizenship since 1921. The only identifying document found in the Nice apartment was a Soviet passport, and police in accordance with French laws notified the nearest Russian Consul, who is at Marseilles. The draperies and pictures in the studio here were alone valued at $10,000.Īt an autopsy performed today the verdict of accidental death due to strangulation was returned. Perks declared the royalties on her book of memoirs were expected to net many thousands of dollars. Although Miss Duncan was recently financially embarrassed, Mrs. Perks said that all the dancer’s friends would testify that she intended all her property go to her blind brother, Augustin. Mary Desto Perks, British newspaper woman who was driving with the dancer when she met death. Miss Duncan left no will, according to Mrs. Police are guarding the door and will permit no one to enter until a Soviet consular official has signed the necessary papers allowing friends to take charge of the body. “ Nice, France (AP)–The body of Isadora Duncan, dancer, whose adventurous career terminated in an automobile tragedy here last night, was locked in her studio today. An Associated Press article that appeared in the SeptemBrooklyn Daily Eagle on the morning after Duncan’s sudden death: ![]() It was the end of a short life that felt like a long one. Out for a car ride in France with a friend and a chauffeur who promised to teach her to operate an automobile, the free-spirited dancer was done in by her free-flowing scarf, which entangled in one of the motor car’s front wheels and yanked her into the next world. “‘For the first time I am writing for money now I am frightened that some quick accident might happen.” ![]()
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