Schubert — Ellens Gesang III D. 839 "Ave Maria"
- Music:
Schubert — Ellens Gesang III D. 839 "Ave Maria"
- Original choreography by: Isadora Duncan
- Premiered: Dec 3, 1914, at Carnegie Hall
Isadora created two versions of this dance, one as a solo for herself, and later as a group dance for six dancers. Reconstructed versions by Hortense Kooluris and Riva Hoffman.
Notes
Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck
Reference: Nahumck, Nadia Chilkovsky. Isadora Duncan: The Dances. Washington DC: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1994.
Duncan created two versions of this dance—a solo for herself and a group dance arranged for six performers. In the group version, a small pool of white light rivets the attention of dancers and audience. In a slow processional entrance the dancers seem to waft toward the magnetic center of light with a "passion held in check through tenderness" (Blair, Portrait of the Artist as a Woman, p. 247). Small, gliding steps transport each dancer's elongated, upright torso in an eerie suggestion of non-physicality. Long, white, unpleated tunics gently trail behind the dancers, and wide, wing-like sleeves exaggerate the "spirit" image. The dance is a realized projection of Duncan's belief that, "The true dance is an expression of serenity; it is controlled by the profound rhythm of inner emotion. Emotion does not reach the moment of frenzy out of a spurt of action; it broods first, it sleeps like the life in the seed, and it unfolds with a gentle slowness" (Duncan, The Art of the Dance, p. 99).
Cynthia Splatt
Reference: Duncan, Dorée; Carol Pratl and Cynthia Splatt (eds.) Life Into Art. Isadora Duncan and Her World. Foreword by Agnes de Mille. Text by Cynthia Splatt. W. W. Norton & Company, 1993. ISBN 0-393-03507-7
One of her masterpieces was her choreography of Schubert's Ave Maria. As a solo, she danced the Virgin Mary: her acceptance of the Angel's Annunciation, the birth of the Christ Child, and her loving adoration of the infant. When the young women joined her, they danced a chorus of angels.
Videos
| Title | Date | Dancers | Full Dance? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hortense Kooluris Memorial | 2007-10-01 | Reiko Morita | Yes | |
| Hortense Kooluris Memorial Tribute | 2007-08-01 | No | ||
| Julia Levien performance | 2005 | Yes | ||
| DDD Performance at Mountain View, CA | 1994-03-25 | Christina Fessenden, Annah G McCluskey, Melinda McGee, Deborah Vaerbes-Leeb, Michelle Silver | Yes | |
| Dionysian Duncan Dancers Julia Morgan | 1993-09 | Ensemble | Yes | |
| Isadora Duncan's 110th Birthday Celebration | 1987 | Hortense Kooluris | Yes | Group part performed as a solo |
| Isadora Duncan Centenary Dance Company performs Ave Maria | Lori Belilove, Jeanne Bresciani, Sylvia Gold, Hortense Kooluris, Judith Ann Landon, Gemze de Lappe | No | ||
| Isadora Duncan Repertory Dance Company performs Ave Maria | Yes |
Related items in the Archives
The Collection of Christy Cornell-Pape > Programs > April 1920 Isadorables program — Apr 06, 1920
The Collection of Louise Craig Gerber > Programs > Isadorables Performance
The Collection of Louise Craig Gerber > Programs > Irma's Isadora Duncan Dancers — Nov 02, 1930
The Collection of Mignon Garland > Programs > Isadora Duncan Dancers in Minneapolis — 1930
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Retrospective Isadora Duncan — 1993
The Collection of Janaea Rose Lyn (McAlee) > Programs > Irma Duncan — Isadora Duncan Dancers
The Collection of Janaea Rose Lyn (McAlee) > Programs > Isadora Duncan — Nov 21, 1916