Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

My Life, the classic autobiography first published just after Duncan's death, is a frank and engrossing life account of this remarkable visionary and feminist who took on the world, reinvented dance, and led the way for future great American modernists Ruth St. Denis, Agnes de Mille, and Martha Graham.Documenting Duncan's own life as a dancer and as a woman--from her enchantment with classical music and poetry as a child in San Francisco and her intense study of classical Greek art in Athens, through the great strides she made in teaching, founding schools, performing, and collaborating with international artists, to her notorious love affairs and the tragic deaths of her own children--My Life reissued here is still as extraordinary as the woman who wrote it more than sixty years ago.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

The legendary autobiography, with all the naughty bits restored. Actually, even the expurgated version of modern-dance pioneer Duncan's account of her life, loves and art was frank enough to make it a scandalous success in 1927, the year she died at age 50. The passages deleted generally featured the names of people still alive or practices then considered beyond the pale, such as homosexuality or masturbation. (The sentences left in about unabashedly lesbian dancer Loie Fuller are often as obviously indicative of her sex life as the ones that were omitted.) The inclusion of this material doesn't substantively change the nature of Duncan's book, which remains one of the great documents of early-20th-century bohemianism and radicalism. She despised marriage, money and the bourgeoisie; she lived for Art (always with a capital A). Duncan's unashamed self-love would have been absurd if she hadn't expressed the same enthusiasm for other artists: Fuller, Eleanora Duse and Cosima Wagner are among the strong-minded women for whom she voices vivid appreciation; actors Henry Irving and Jean Mounet-Sully are among the men. The author's portrait of visionary theatrical designer Gordon Craig, father of her first child, rings with fervent admiration for his genius as it unforgettably captures the domineering personality Duncan had to flee. Dance critic Joan Acocella's surprisingly grudging introduction focuses on Duncan's admitted solipsism and "willed navet," somewhat at the expense of her groundbreaking impact as a dancer and a free woman. Yes, it was ridiculous of Duncan to think she had the right to teach modern Greeks how to dance and sing in the manner of their ancestors, and, yes, her endless recitations of the accolades showered on her get wearisome. But Isadora's sublime faith in herself as a genius was the force that drove her life, and it gives her memoir its marvelous flavor. A welcome new edition of a classic.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

A native of San Francisco, Isadora Duncan was known as an innovator and a first-generation pioneer of modern dance. A modernist whose lifestyle became even more visible and well known than her dancing, she was a feminist and lived her life as the legend it became.

Duncan's dancing was bold and innovative. She danced barefoot. Her costume was an adaptation of a Greek tunic, embellished with several colored shoulder scarves. Using natural flowing movements that emanated from her wrist, she weaved and whirled to express the emotions prompted by the music. Although Duncan established schools in Berlin, Paris, Moscow, and London, her dance technique was so improvisational, abstract, and personal that her many imitators were largely unsuccessful. They lacked her daring and dynamic personality. Duncan's accidental death in Paris was a tragedy mourned by the entire dance world.

(Bowker Author Biography)