The Lineage of Isadora Duncan
The East Hampton Star Magazine pays tribute to “The Wild Girls of Lily Pond Lane” detailing the lineage of Isadora Duncan’s work, including our very own Dicki Johnson Macy!
2021 Virtual Duncan End of Year Celebration:
Dances of Renewal & Abundance
On June 6, our community of dancers gathered together to honor one another, and the gifts we bring to our community. Featured are the Guardians of Isadora dancing a suite of Brahms Waltzes, choreographed by Isadora Duncan and with the guidance of Laura Pravitz. We hope you enjoy!
Click here to view the 2021 Art & Technique of Isadora Duncan Celebration of Renewal & Abundance
Guardians of Isadora dance at Singing Beach – October 24, 2020
Click here to enjoy timeless Duncan choreographies to the music of the ocean waves
We are excited to share our first virtual student dance performance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we transitioned to online class offerings, and joined together in joyful movement for an end of year celebration. Please enjoy!
Click here to view the 2020 Art & Technique of Isadora Duncan Recital
As a part of the Union Institute’s Doctoral Residency this July 2020, Dicki Johnson Macy presented an offering for the student led panel, “Expressions of Love: Reclaiming a Multitude of Meanings.” An excerpt from the program:
“Throughout our vast intellectual history, the concept of love has functioned in a multitude of ways. In our current period of intense global crisis with an impact that explodes traditional territorial and cultural boundaries, the need for love as a practice that embraces a love of difference and rejects a love of sameness is increasingly urgent. In order to understand love’s varying expressions, we must turn towards music, dance, literature and philosophy.”
Dicki’s presentation illustrated through embodied narrative, the power of collective expression and engagement, which is sourced from the choreographic etudes of Isadora Duncan (1887-1927). Duncan honored nature as her inspiration for her politically and theoretically revolutionary dances, whose themes of beauty, strength, and freedom are timeless and universal. Please enjoy two pieces to Dicki’s presentation:
Performed by the Guardians of Isadora, the “Bacchanale” and the “Vashavyanka” showcase Isadora Duncan’s rebellious nature. The “Bacchanale” embodies the wild ecstatic dance of the ancient Greek Maenads, the mythic nurses of Dionysus, with a theme of love and surrender to Nature. As a response to the Bloody Sunday massacre of the Russian Revolution, Duncan’s “Vashavyanka” dance embodies strength and freedom, with a vibrant red flag symbolizing the heart that lives and passes on from one soldier to another.
CLICK HERE to view the Bacchanale & the Vashavyanka
The final piece showcases Isadora’s movement canon of Tanagra figures, 4th century BC Hellenic statues which depicted the humble and universal survival activities of daily life. Each posture represents the potential for accessing the universe within oneself, and of understanding one’s responsibility to influence humanity. Juxtaposed with the music of Peter, Paul & Mary and Dave Brubeck’s “Because All Men Are Brothers,” Dicki weaves these timeless movement etudes with a vision shared by activists and humanitarians throughout history: the love of all persons as family.
CLICK HERE to view the Tanagra