Isadora Duncan was a larger than life figure of the first part of the century. Both her work and her lifestyle guaranteed her the attention of the world. Mr. Kurth's biography brings the innovative dancer back to life clarifying many details at the same time. Ms. Duncan tended to either gloss over or sensationalize various aspects of her history and this book separates fact from fantasy. The photographs are very good, as is the narrative.

Here is an excellent biography of someone whose life combined artistic achievement with personal dysfunction. Arguably the creator of what we now refer to as "modern dance," Isadora Duncan certainly filled her "sensational" personal life with a series of adventures and misadventures while struggling to sustain a career during which so many of her knowledgeable contemporaries praised her artistic talents and achievements. Consider these comments:

"I got an impression of enormous grace, and enormous power in her dancing -- she was very serious, and held the audience and held them completely." (Frederick Ashton)

"She moved with those wonderful steps of hers with simplicity and detachment that could only come through the intuition of genius itself." (Tamara Karsavina)

"She incarnated music in her dance." (Serge Kousevitsky)

"The soul becomes drunk with this endless succession of beautiful lines and groupings [of movement]." (Ernest Newman)

"The greatest woman I have ever known....Sometimes I think she is the greatest woman the world has ever known." (Rodin)

Impressive accolades indeed which, for me, increase the poignancy (at times the tragedy) of her poor judgment and irresponsible behavior when not performing before an always adoring audience. Even for those who know little (if anything) about dance, Kurth has written an absorbing, at times compelling biography of a woman who (in the words of a contemporary, Janet Flanner) embodied "the grandeur of permanent ideals...[but was] too expansive for personal salvation."

By the time I approached the final chapter of Kurth's biography, I had observed a number of similarities between Isadora's life and the lives of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Sylvia Plath. For example, their original and substantial talent, their excessive self-indulgences, their passion for experiencing (both physically and emotionally) as much as possible each day, and their vulnerabilities which so many others exploited shamelessly. With Whitman in mind, Robert Gottlieb observes: "For Isadora there were no rules, there was only the Song of Herself; she lacked the discipline, the emotional and moral resources, to keep liberty from lapsing into license." Such is often the fate of a genius which, by most accounts, Isadora Duncan was. "Sensational" indeed.

Done Into Dance: Isadora Duncan In America by Ann Daly (Associate Professor of Dance History and Criticism, The University of Texas, Austin) is the exciting story of that legendary American dance icon, Isadora Duncan. Examining Isadora's international fame, as well as her profound and pervasive influence on a rising generation of American women, Done Into Dance links Isadora with the social and historical currents of her era, including her own personal association with feminism, and her racial notion of "Americanness", while striving to answer just what it was about her dancing that captivated so many people. Numerous excerpted sources and black-and-white photographs round out this telling and highly recommended biographical portrait.

Even though Isadora Duncan was born at the turn of the last century, her wisdom and vision is powerful for readers today. Not only was she a powerful, woman/dancer/artist, but also a progressive philosopher. Feminist extraordinaire! If you want to learn more about this visionary read "her words". Everyone wants to tell you what she was like. Find out from Isadora herself.

A marvelous collection of photos, images, and text about this revolutionary woman. More than just a performance artist, Isadora Duncan helped to usher in modernism and her artist contributions are here beautifully captured in text and image. Many of these picutres have never before been printed, at least in material I've seen, and the captioning of the photos provides detailed information.

An autobiography is a way of looking inside a person's mind. We have no real right to expect objectivity or "the long view" on any given subject.

Isadora Duncan's autobiography is a terrific example of the above. She was a hugely talented, flamboyant individual who chose to march to her own drummer from an early age. She is passionate in her descriptions of her inner life, her career and her lovers and changed the whole concept of "The Dance", breaking away from ballet (which she considered ugly and contrived) and inventing what we'd call "modern dance".

She was a fantastic dancer, but as a writer she is far too interested in her own inner world. The people around her float by as a succesion of badly defined cardboard cutouts, and one visited city sounds much like any other. After a while this DOES get rather boring. The lack of dates (such as "that was in 1925" or whatever) or a neatly defined chapter structure means that it's pretty hard to keep track of the passage of time. In the end, reading this book becomes a bit of a struggle: it's like being stuck in a someone's rather boring dreamworld.

Her sollipsism is (at times) a bit of a hoot and her inability to perceive the world for what it is provide the reader with occasional bits of unintentional black comedy.

An example: after deciding that ancient Greece was the mother of all art, Isadora sunk a great deal of her money in trying to rebuild a Greek temple. Her family spoke no Greek but lived for months amid the ruins, performing dances and wearing togas while getting cheated by the local villagers. She also formed a chorus of Greek urchins to perform ancient music and was later disappointed when during a tour, the urchins begin growing up and staying out late and coming home drunk.

A more human writer would have managed a bit of irony, a touch of sympathy for these common, simple people caught up in the mad American artist's vision, but Isadora never quite manages it. Sadly, it is precisely this sort of self-centered and humourless viewpoint that makes this book so stodgy.

On the positive side, however, one DOES get a really good idea of what Isadora Duncan was like and how she saw her art and one can't really ask for more from an autobiography.

I first read this book after seeing Ken Russell's film "The World's Biggest Dancer" in the 1960's The film is, unfortunately, lost. I fell in love with the myth of this fabulous woman and was impressed with Vanessa Redgrave's portrayal of her in Karel Reisz's "Isadora" also hopelessly lost I believe. This is not a great work of art: it has episodes of naively underwritten material tailored into whole paragraphs of wonderful philosophy of a futuristic world when art and beaty supercede greed and material gain. The ghost of Isadora haunts this book; a woman broken by personal tragedy writing these words in the last years of a life that, by any standards, was extraordinary. I keep it on my shelf along with Nijinsky's "Life" both books testimony to the inability of words to express the emotions of genius

Easily one of the best conversations I have had without speaking. Isadora speaks directly to her reader with a passionate and intense language. There were points when I was reading that my inner voice was yelling back in agreement, empathy or appreciation. I found this woman intelligent, hilarious and dramatic. I felt as though I had made a friend. Though she was not a trained writer, she has been able to share herself very openly in the written language. I think this is a must read for any woman (or man).

Isadora Duncan is credited with being the mother of modern dance. When Isadora was young, her mother bought her her first ballet lessons. However, Isadora thought that dancing on her toes was ugly. "I dreamed of a different dance," she said. Isadora soon began teaching dance to neighborhood children. That was the beginning of her new style of dance. Isadora went on to found a dance school and company and become one of the most famous modern dancers in the world. The watercolored illustrations in this book depict nicely Isadora's free flowing style. However, the somewhat bland text does little justice to her highly innovative dance. Overall this book does a good job of showing that in order to be a good dancer you don't have to conform, but can dance from the heart.

I am a dancer and dance with a company that follows the teachings of Isadora Duncan. I and my fellow dancers are always thrilled when a book about this great legend comes out- and we are especially happy when it is such a beautiful and accurate one. It is a book that children as well as adults can enjoy, because the illustrations are wonderful and the events are historical. I just wonder, if Rachel Isadora was named after Isadora Duncan- I highly recommend this stunning book!

This is about a girl whos family dos'nt have alot of money but she struggles to dance. She dances barefoot, because she dos'nt have the money to buy shoes. Her life does finnally change a little bit and you should read this book to find out HOW. I would reccomend this for a 14 and up age group because I read it when I was a little to young and it was boering for me. Read it to find out how her life changes!