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Quote by Isadora Duncan

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My Life (Revised and Updated)

This book is a revised and updated version of the author's memoir, offering a comprehensive look into their personal life, experiences, and insights. The revised edition includes new content and updated perspectives, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the author's journey. more

Author

Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan

Isadora Duncan, born on May 27, 1877, and died on September 14, 1927, was a pioneer of modern dance. She is known for her free and expressive dance style, which broke away from the constraints of classical ballet and laid the foundation for modern dance. more

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“Basic dance--and I should qualify the word basic--is primarily concerned with motion. So immediately you will say but the basketball player is concerned with motion. That is so--but he is not concerned with it primarily. His action is a means towards an end beyond motion. In basic dance the motion is its own end--that is, it is concerned with nothing beyond itself.”

“The dance, just as the performance of the actor, is kinesthetic art, art of the muscle sense. The awareness of tension and relaxation within his own body, the sense of balance that distinguishes the proud stability of the vertical from the risky adventures of thrusting and falling--these are the tools of the dancer.”

“If one had to define one essential gift with which a dancer needs to be endowed, there might be a rush of answers. A beautiful body, grace of line, graciousness of spirit, joy in the work, ability to please, unswerving integrity, relentless ambition towards some abstract perfection. Certainly all these factors determine a dancer's character, and every element exists in some combination within the performing artist's presence.”

“I will make an average man into an average dancer, provided he be passably well made. I will teach him how to move his arms and legs, to turn his head. I will give him steadiness, brilliancy and speed; but I cannot endow him with that fire and intelligence, those graces and that expression of feeling which is the soul of true pantomime.”