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Yuri Stupel and the Isadora Duncan dance on the Athenian stage

03 November 2013 / 21:11:20  GRReporter
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Life punished her. Love let her down. Art rehabilitated her. And death wanted her and took her away in such a strange way - with a scarf around her neck, which turned into a gallows for her.

The legendary priestess of modern dance, the barefoot dancer who used elements of Greek choreography in her creative work and transformed her existence in every single movement and in this way enchanted the audience, will come alive in the theatre play "Isadora Duncan - My Life." It was written and directed by Thanassis Teologis, and as of Monday, 11 November, every Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 p.m. it will be performed at Argo theatre.

Describing the most important love stories, tragic facts and enormous success in the life of the dancer-choreographer who, despite the tragedies she faced did not give up because art was more important than life for her, the play follows her life since her childhood in America and her tour in Europe until her departure for Russia.

Love, art, life - a triptych that has been interesting and will always be interesting for world literature and theatre. Art, life, love - a difficult combination... How can a person combine these? Life, love, art…. How can a person distinguish them, since art is love and love is an admirer of art and since life is art and art is inspired by life?

Triumphs and tragedies

Born in San Francisco in 1877, American of Russian origin Angela Isadora Duncan made her professional debut in 1896, in Chicago, where she met theatrical producer Augustin Daly and became a member of his travelling troupe, performing various roles.

After becoming 22 years of age, she lived and worked in several major European cities. In London, fate met her with advanced-guard spiritual circles of the era thanks to which she got to know the secrets of symphonic music, ancient Greek sculpture and the Italian art of painting from the Renaissance. In Germany, she got to know the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, for whom dance is a way of thinking, which was the same for her, and soon she formed her philosophy about the art of dance, oriented towards ancient Greek ideals: naturalness and freedom.

From 1904 to 1907 Isadora Duncan lived and worked in Greece, Germany, Russia and the Scandinavian countries, working with many leading artists of that era. In 1904, she established her first dance school outside Berlin, where she began to develop her own theory of dance training. She later opened schools in France, Germany and Russia, and the audience worshiped her every performance. Despite her triumph in Europe and America, however, her personal life was marked by tragedy.

She gave birth to a daughter from Gordon Greg and a son from Paris Singer. Both of her children, however, were killed at an early age in a tragic way. On their way home with the nanny, the driver had to stop the car in order to avoid a crash. When he got out of the car in order to start the engine with the crank, he had forgotten to pull the hand brake and the car drove off and fell into the Seine. Her third child was born dead.

After the tragedy, Isadora Duncan went to Corfu, where she lived with homosexual Italian actress Eleonora Duze for several months, and in 1922 married Russian poet Sergei Yesenin who was a lot younger than her. Her stormy and tragic life prepared for her a tragic death. Isadora Duncan died in 1927 at the age of 50 when the long scarf she was wearing draped around her neck, became entangled around the wheel of the car in which they were travelling, and when the car drove off, it suffocated her.

Information about the show

Director: Thanassis Teologis; Choreography by Tanya Miltenova; Scenery - costumes: Rea Olimbiou; Lighting: Thanassis Roditis. Performance: Joanna Delakou; Piano - musician-composer Yuri Stupel.

Argo Theatre: 15 Elefsinion Street - Metaxourgeio, phone: 0030 210 5201684-5. Tickets: regular - 10 euro; for students and unemployed - 7 euro.

Tags: Angela Isadora Duncan dance play Argo theatre Yuri Stupel
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