The Dancer And The Übermarionette: Isadora Duncan and Edward Gordon Craig

Authors

Olga Taxidou, The University of EdinburghFollow

Abstract/Synopsis

Olga Taxidou analyzes the ambiguous concept for which Edward Gordon Craig is best known—the “übermarionette”—alongside Isadora Duncan’s discussions of the liberated dancer. Highlighting the emphasis on futurity in Craig’s and Duncan’s manifestos and theories, she contends that this pairing works to undo the binaries between Hellenism and modernism, and between mechanistic and vitalistic aesthetics. Emphasizing the impact of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy (1872) and Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories upon Duncan’s theory and practice, Taxidou locates Duncan within an intellectual vanguard that includes Jane Harrison and her fellow Cambridge Ritualists as well as major modernist poets.

DOI

10.5642/mimejournal.20172601.03

First Page

6

Last Page

16

Rights

© 2017 Olga Taxidou

Terms of Use & License Information

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Recommended Citation

Taxidou, Olga (2017) "The Dancer And The Übermarionette: Isadora Duncan and Edward Gordon Craig," Mime Journal: Vol. 26, Article 3. DOI: 10.5642/mimejournal.20172601.03
Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/mimejournal/vol26/iss1/3