Classical Mythology

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1
CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY IN MUSIC, DANCE, AND FILM 761

Duncan training and illustrates six dances (including "Three Graces") with a class at
Smith College; Isadora Duncan: Movement from the Soul—a documentary narrated by
Julie Harris that includes "Dance of the Furies," "Dance of the Blessed Spirits," and
"Narcissus," performed by the Oakland Ballet; and What Is New (Series, Magic of the
Dance)—narrated by Margot Fonteyn, with a short film of Duncan dancing in a gar-
den. There are two film biographies: Isadora Duncan, The Biggest Dancer in the World
(1966), Kit Parker Films—an inventive biography by the iconoclastic director Ken Rus-
sell, with Vivien Pickles as Isadora; also Isadora (1968)—directed by Karel Reisz, star-
ring Vanessa Redgrave. See Louise Spain, éd., Dance on Camera, A Guide to Dance Films
and Videos (Latham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, 1998).


  1. Terry, Isadora Duncan, p. 102.

  2. Ted Shawn with Gray Poole, One Thousand and One Night Stands (New York: Dou-
    bleday and Company, 1960), pp. 10-11.

  3. Ibid., p. 15.

  4. Ibid., p. 66. Information for this dance, choreographed by Shawn and St. Denis, is as
    follows: Dance Pageant of India, Greece and Egypt (or Life and Afterlife in Egypt, Greece
    and India), 1916. Music by Meyrowitz, De Lachau, Nevin, and Halverson. The section
    on Greece was subdivided: Plastic; Figures from an Amphora; Dancers with Musical
    Instruments; From a Grecian Vase; and Greek Youth.

  5. Ted Shawn,Thirty-three Years of American Dance (1927-1959) and the American Ballet
    (Pittsfield, Mass.: Eagle Printing and Binding Co., 1959), pp. 4-6. Beginning in 1915,
    Denishawn toured the United States and the world until 1931; then, beginning in
    1933, Shawn and his Men Dancers toured for seven years in over 750 cities in the
    United States, Canada, Cuba, and England, presenting over 1259 performances; in
    their repertoire were many dances related to Greek and Roman themes.

  6. Ted Shawn, How Beautiful upon the Mountain, A History of Jacob's Pillow, 3d ed. (n.p.,
    1947).

  7. See Christina L. Schlundt, The Professional Appearances of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn,
    A Chronology and Index of Dances 1906-1932 (New York: The New York Public Library,
    1962). The following videos offer insight into the careers and choreography of Shawn
    and St. Denis: Denishawn, The Birth of Modern Dance and The Men Who Danced, a nos-
    talgic reunion of members of Shawn's all-male troupe, founded in 1933, that offers a
    history of life and performance at Jacob's Pillow. For these and other videos and films
    see Spain, Dance on Camera.

  8. Terry, Isadora Duncan, pp. 101-102. This dance is on the Denishawn video.

  9. Ibid., p. 102.

  10. Ibid., p. 102, comments that O, Libertad, "his greatest group work... restated in con-
    temporary dance terms the ceremonial of the threshing floor and its testimony to
    love, life, death and afterlife."

  11. Martha Graham, Blood Memory (New York: Doubleday, 1991), p. 236.

  12. Ibid., pp. 27 and 234.

  13. Ibid., p. 120.

  14. Ibid., p. 75.

  15. Ibid., p. 263.

  16. Ibid., p. 4.

  17. Ibid., p. 211.

  18. Quoted in Barbara Morgan, Martha Graham, Sixteen Dances in Photographs (Dobbs

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