Document Type
Article
Abstract
[First paragraph]
Any study of the birth of modern dance draws upon the work of Isadora Duncan and for too long her dance has been placed in opposition to ballet. Even today the contemporary Duncan dancer reifies the image of Duncan as natural, harmonious, unique and rounded [1]. This opposition of free dance versus ballet presents a two-dimensional portrait of past representations of femininity. I aim to re-think Duncan's disdain for the pointe shoe and her belief that barefoot dancing would encourage a liberated movement that would in turn free "woman" from her disgraceful position in dance and society at large. That this did not entirely happen suggests that there is something about ballet that Duncan ignored. That ballet continues to enlist and attract thousands of young girls cannot be entirely due to false consciousness or masochism. Hence, this article draws attention to the other body of Isadora Duncan.
Repository Citation
Pearson, Joanne. "Time Wounds All Heels: Duncan, Ballet, and Bataille." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 3, no. 2, 2003, pp. 1–18. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol3/iss2/5