Elizabeth Duncan (dancer)

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Elizabeth Duncan was the oldest child of Joseph Charles Duncan (1819–1898), a banker, and Mary Isadora Gray (1849–1922). Her younger siblings were Augustin Duncan, Raymond Duncan, and Isadora Duncan.{{cite book|author=Deborah Jowitt|title=Time and the Dancing Image|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaECpiO__W8C&pg=PA75|year=1989|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-06627-4|pages=75}} Joseph Duncan was involved in illegal dealings, after which the couple divorced and the family became impoverished. The Duncans taught dance lessons to children in Oakland to earn extra income. Elizabeth Duncan is largely credited with teaching Isadora in their youth, and it was during this time that Isadora developed her style of modern dance and Elizabeth developed her pedagogical style.

The sisters opened their first school in Europe in 1904.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/12/19/archives/the-dance-memorial-elizabeth-duncan-a-great-figure-passes.html|title=THE DANCE: MEMORIAL; Elizabeth Duncan -- A Great Figure Passes|last=Martin|first=John|date=1948-12-19|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-07-19|issn=0362-4331}} Elizabeth then opened a school in Darmstadt in 1911, which relocated to the Hudson Valley area in 1915, to Potsdam in 1921, Salzburg in 1925 until 1935, (Paris in 1930), Munich in 1935, back to Salzburg in 1945, and back to Munich until Duncan's death.{{Cite web|url=http://www.isadoraduncanarchive.org/dancer/7/|title=Elizabeth Duncan|website=www.isadoraduncanarchive.org|access-date=2019-07-19}} Elizabeth attempted a career in performance and had moderate success, but found that her passion lay in teaching.{{Cite journal|last=West|first=Martha Ullman|date=2003-01-05|title=Aspects of Isadora|journal=Dance Chronicle|volume=26|issue=1|pages=117–123|doi=10.1081/DNC-120018855|s2cid=191594215|issn=0147-2526|doi-access=free}} She believed that one could not separate art and life, and thus required both intellectual and physical rigor from her students.{{Cite journal|last=Gordon|first=Terri J.|date=2002|title=Fascism and the Female Form: Performance Art in the Third Reich|jstor=3704555|journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality|volume=11|issue=1/2|pages=164–200|doi=10.1353/sex.2002.0004|s2cid=142936155|issn=1043-4070}}

Elizabeth Duncan was also a teacher of the Isadorables, six students hand-picked to study under her sister. Both sisters were concerned with mounting violence in Europe in 1914, which prompted their brief relocation, along with the Isadorables, to the United States. While there, Elizabeth advocated for bringing children orphaned by World War I to America for education. She wrote in a letter to the editor in The New York Times that it was necessary to "attack the problem of race hygiene at its very foundation".{{Cite news|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/12/27/104638865.html?action=click&contentCollection=Archives&module=ArticleEndCTA®ion=ArchiveBody&pgtype=article&pageNumber=67|title=WAR ORPHANS IN EUROPE.; Elizabeth Duncan Suggests Bringing Them Here to be Educated.|work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-07-19}}

Elizabeth Duncan and her sister Isadora were often estranged.{{Cite news|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/09/16/117996052.html?action=click&contentCollection=Archives&module=ArticleEndCTA®ion=ArchiveBody&pgtype=article&pageNumber=23|title=SISTER COLLAPSES AT NEWS.; Elizabeth Duncan, Who Trained Isadora, Calls Her a 'Helpless' Genius.|work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-07-19}} The sisters shared a love of dance and Grecian art; Elizabeth frequently wore togas and sandals.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1927/01/01/isadora|title=Isadora Duncan's Return|last=Flanner|first=Janet|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2014-07-21|access-date=2019-07-20|issn=0028-792X}} Although hard to assess, it appears that Elizabeth handled the finances of all of Isadora's schools, and would send the dancer money while she was on tour.{{Cite journal|last=Wright|first=Louise E.|date=2000|title=Touring Russia with Isadora: Maurice Magnus' Account|jstor=1567980|journal=Dance Chronicle|volume=23|issue=3|pages=233–261|doi=10.1080/01472520008569390|s2cid=191531379|issn=0147-2526}} After Isadora's death, she continued to dedicate her life to her sister's work, continuing to establish schools and ultimately a foundation honoring the Duncan legacy.

Many depictions of Isadora's life include that of her sister. Elizabeth Duncan is a narrator in Amelia Gray's novel Isadora (2017).{{Cite book|title=Isadora|last=Gray, Amelia|date=23 May 2017|isbn=9780374279981|edition= First|location=New York|oclc=957021297}}

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Category:1871 births

Category:1948 deaths

Category:20th-century American dancers

Category:American expatriates in Germany

Category:American expatriates in the Soviet Union

Category:American female dancers

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Category:American dance teachers

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Category:School founders

Category:20th-century American women