DUNCAN DANCE SOUTH
DUNCAN DANCE SOUTH
DUNCAN DANCE SOUTH is a regional dance company focused on preserving and passing on the works of early modern dance artists Isadora Duncan and Florence Fleming Noyes and on creating new works rooted in these early modern dance techniques. Activities include masterclasses, workshops, residencies, and performances. Recent performances include Orpheus Reimagined in collaboration with Portara Ensemble, produced by Metro Dance and the Nature Conservancy at the Parthenon in Centennial Park, Nashville, TN, and Live at the Hunter, a concert in response to the Power, Passion & Pose exhibit of dance photography by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory, NYC Dance Project. Upcoming concerts include a collaboration with Houston-based pianist Sherry Cheng for the Hattiesburg Art Council and the ongoing Dance of Freedom project, sharing a contemporary reconstruction of a suffragist choreography by Florence Fleming Noyes.
EARLY MODERN DANCE
At the turn of the twentieth century, the early modern dance practices of Isadora Duncan and Florence Fleming Noyes revolutionized movement in a variety of contexts, from concert dance (Duncan), to progressive education, to the woman suffrage movement (Noyes), to mind/body therapeutic practices. Historically termed natural, rhythmic, aesthetic or Greek dancing, today these dance techniques are living movement practices that are accessible for all bodies and generate feelings of boundless freedom, harmony, and joy.
Famed for her bare feet, silk tunics, and free spirit, Isadora Duncan (1877- 1927) revolutionized turn-of-the-twentieth century concert dance. Duncan identified the solar plexus as the initiatory center of all emotive and expressive movements and trained a generation of dancers who preserved and passed on her movement technique, as well as her extensive repertory of dances, through a body-to-body legacy still active today. Visit Isadora Duncan Archive for more information about Duncan's dance repertory.
"For me the dance is not only the art that gives expression to the human soul through movement, but also the foundation of a complete conception of life..."
-Isadora Duncan, The Art of the Dance
Working with the same center of initiation, but terming it "the spot," Florence Fleming Noyes' (1871-1928) system features repetitive movement patterns guided by natural and Greek mythological imagery and designed to access and release creative inspiration. Preserved for nearly a century by a small community of summer- time practitioners, Noyes Rhythm continues to evolve as both a physical and philosophical life practice. Visit Noyes School of Rhythm Foundation for information about the summer program.
