Her home provided artistic and intellectual riches – even though her father left the family in financial straits soon after Isadora was born. Source Dictionnaire de la Danse (CCN - Ballet de Lorraine 2004 - 2005)īorn Isadora Angela Duncan in San Francisco on May 26, 1877, Isadora discovered the joy of dance in nature, amidst the wind, sea and waves at the beach as a young child. Still on the ground, the mother stretches her body to the distance in an ultimate gesture of farewell, of adieu. But her fingers, in a last caress, find only the ground. The child wanders off, she follows it with her gaze, it comes back, she embraces it fervently and lays it down in front of her. “True dance is the strength of pain” writes Duncan. The dialogue and their imaginary body to body encounter are enveloped in an earthly sluggishness fuelled by the ternary circle of the music. The phrasing of the gestures sculptures the space between the child evoked and the mother. A woman bends over, like a child that she seems to pull out from the earth. This gestural dance takes place on a single diagonal symbolising the course of life. In the penury then affecting the whole of Russia, Scriabin’s mystical tones accompany the pain of a mother orphaned from her children. Isadora Duncan arrived in Moscow a few months earlier to found a dance school. She is working to innovate the Duncan technique for the 21st Century with contemporary music selection, expanded and developed movements and challenging choreography.This solo is part of a dance ensemble, Impressions de Russie, on three studies by Scriabin. Valerie firmly believes that Duncan Dance is a vital aspect to the dance of today and that all dancers can benefit from its unique focus on musicality, artistry, personal expression and openness. Since discovering Duncan Dance in 1992, Valerie has focused on building, preserving and learning more about Isadora's gorgeous, timeless and inspired technique of dance and repertory of dances. She served as the founding Chair of the Isadora Duncan Archive committee and project. The organization aims to bring together practitioners of the Duncan community to expand the reach and breadth of the Duncan work throughout the world. Valerie has helped spearhead the formation of the Isadora Duncan International Symposium as an original member of the Organizing Committee. Her new choreographies in the Duncan Dance technique have been well received and performed around the country, including the National Portrait Gallery, Freer/Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian, National Cathedral, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Paris/Ballys in Las Vegas, Mercy College in New York and many other venues. Valerie is building a performing aspect to the Duncan technique in the Maryland and DC areas with performances throughout the year. She has taught Duncan Dance/Free Movement for the Academy Ballet School at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis, at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, at Strathmore-CityDance in Rockville, as well as several other dance studios in the Annapolis, Baltimore and DC areas. She graduated from the ICONS Choreographic Institute program in 2021. She is a member of Dance ICONS a global network of choreographers. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, served as the President of the Word Dance Theater Board of Directors ( and earned a Master's of Fine Arts degree in Dance at the University of Maryland in 2012. Valerie is a Teaching Artist with the John F. Valerie currently resides in Maryland, with her son, Luke. She also acts in musical and play productions along the East Coast. Valerie has taught the Duncan technique at the Isadora Duncan Foundation and Steps on Broadway in New York City, as well as at schools in Princeton, NJ, Gainesville, FL, Annapolis, MD and the Washington, DC area.ĭancing since age three, Valerie originally studied ballet, tap and jazz at schools and companies such as the Virginia Ballet, the School of Performing Arts in Orlando Florida, Brigham Young University and the University of Florida. Valerie performed with Sonke-Henderson's DuncanWorks Children's Dance Theater in Gainesville, Florida. Valerie has studied and performed as a Company Member with the prestigious Lori Belilove & Company in New York City, and has studied with Duncan Dance Masters Lori Belilove, Jeanne Bresciani, Barbara Kane, Julia Levien and Hortense Kooluris, as well as other Duncan Dance teachers including Carrie Tron, Roberta Hoffman, Lynn Armentrout, Marie Carstens and Jill Sonke-Henderson. Valerie Durham is a direct lineage Duncan Dancer who has studied the Isadora Duncan technique since 1992.
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