27. A Turn of the Century Star Dancer
American dancer Isadora Duncan (1878 – 1927) gained great renown in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth. She became famous for dance themes and moves derived from Greek art, and for her long flowing scarves. She was born in San Francisco into an artistically inclined family of comfortable means, to a father who was an engineer, banker, and art connoisseur. Unfortunately, her father was caught engaged in a fraudulent scheme and was ruined, and the family crashed into poverty.
The father’s artistic bent rubbed off on his offspring: of Isadora’s three siblings, her sister became a dancer, a brother became a poet, artist, and philosopher, and another brother became an actor and director. Isadora’s performances won high acclaim and garnered accolades, particularly overseas, after she left America to escape artistic constraints. She ended up in Western Europe and then the Soviet Union, where she lived from age twenty-two until 1927 when a macabre freak accident ended her life.