Annah G McCluskey

Primary teachers: Mignon Garland
Students: Pattee Russell-Curry
Began studying Duncan dance: 1974 (Third Generation)
Areas of expertise: Performer, Teacher, Repertory Coach, Choreographer
Location: Sarasota (USA - South)
Address: 7734 Silver Bell Drive Sarasota, FL 34241
Phone: 9413432982
Email: annahmccluskey@reagan.com

I trained and performed with Mignon Garland and her company, The San Francisco Duncan Dancers. In 1977, I toured the Soviet Union with Mignon Garland and her entourage as part of the commemoration of Isadora Duncan’s 100th birthday. During the tour, company members enjoyed interactions with children at a Pioneer Camp in Azerbaijan, performance collaborations with dancers in Georgia and Armenia and an impromptu performance for guests in a ballroom at the Svetlana Hotel, Sochi, Russia. While in Moscow, I and two other dancers, located and toured the building in which Isadora conducted her school – we were admitted into the room where she slept.

I was a founding member of the Dionysian Duncan Dancers – 1977 to 1980 and assisted the establishment of a studio for teaching and performing on the corner of Main and Mission Streets in San Francisco.

I spent several years – 1980 to 1985 - at the Quitzow family’s Temple of Wings in Berkeley teaching and performing with the Isadora Duncan Legacy Dancers. I was mentored by Sulgywnn Quitzow to learn her method of teaching dance to children and adolescents.

With a strong desire to share the spiritual aspects of Isadora’s inspiring creation, in 1979 I brought my knowledge and abilities to the Community Congregational Church in Tiburon, California to establish a dance choir – The Psalms Dancers - which served both trained and untrained dancers. A Marin County community-based affiliate evolved: The Sun Dancers Sacred Dance Theater. The dance choir was absorbed into the company and classes, retreats, and moving rituals were inclusive with the overall training in Duncan technique, movement vocabulary and development of spiritual expression through dance. Performing opportunities were offered in liturgical settings and community concert halls. The dance company incorporated as a non-profit with a board of directors, fund raised and received funding from California Governor’s Commission on Self Esteem. Additionally, I taught Duncan dance to children, in private schools and several Marin studios as well as to women of all ages – annual recitals were part of the programs.

In 1992-94, I rejoined the Dionysian Duncan Dancers for several concerts in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and traveled with three company members to Moscow to collaborate with descendants of Isadora’s Russian school. This collaboration resulted in a concert - accompanied by members of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra – which was presented in the Kremlin. We were additionally fortunate to meet with and receive coaching from Elena Terentivia and several of her Irma Duncan dance peers. In particular, she coached Ave Maria with an emphasis on the center which was my role.

2023 finds me living contentedly in Sarasota, Florida where I maintain a “free spirit in a healthy body” through an active lifestyle of watercolor painting, ballroom line dancing, coordinating a book group, walking, and attending to my butterfly sanctuary/garden. I am care giver to my husband and I enjoy much help from my adorable kitty, Eva Green Eyes. Life is rich! I feel fortunate to have been graced by Isadora’s creation; my life has been enriched by Duncan Dance sisters and I am deeply grateful to each of them.