Etude Révolutionnaire

This solo is part of a dance ensemble, Impressions de Russie, and corresponds to Isadora Duncan’s Muscovite period. Duncan draws from historical events, to which she intuitively adheres, for the social content and persuasive power of this dance.

A woman stands in the centre of the stage, her hands behind her back. She stands tall, and already her gestures and posture possess the force of a powerful social manifesto. Everything expresses the Promethean struggle: the gestures of working on the ground, stirring and pressing the earth, display a quality of struggle. The woman’s successive advances are like insistent escapes. Marking a pause, she scans the space around her with her gaze: the imaginary vision of her fellows reflects back to her the image of her own condition. Then her worker’s hands lift her off the ground and clench into fists. She harangues this invisible crowd, her mouth opening to cry out. She surges up again, accentuating the fervour of her broad gestures. In an imaginary confrontation, fists and feet hammer the air, the ground. Their percussive rhythm accelerates until she dramatically frees herself. A future opens up before her. She rushes into it. The dance ends with a last vengeful punch.

Source: Dictionnaire de la Danse (CCN – Ballet de Lorraine 2004 – 2005)