Chopin — Etude in G flat major, Op. 25, No. 9 "Butterfly"
- Music:
Chopin — Etude in G flat major, Op. 25, No. 9 "Butterfly"
- Original choreography by: Isadora Duncan (c. 1917)
- Categories: lyrical dances
The Harp is sometimes referred to as "Ondine" or "Aeolian Harp". The movement has a quivering, vibratory quality
which shifts subtly to become a continuous flow of gestures which emanate from the midline of the body to the peripheral in ongoing rays. The articulation of the hands is a focal point which serves to gradually and mysteriously emanate the sense of lightness and ephemerality. Costuming often includes a large silk scarf which variously wraps the torso across the chest from wrist to wrist or across the back evoking images of wings.
This reconstruction and transmission of this work has been attributed to Duncan's original six students and exists as a unique choreography.
Notes
Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck
Reference: Nahumck, Nadia Chilkovsky. Isadora Duncan: The Dances. Washington DC: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1994.
This dance is truly a triumph of the imagination. It is a breathtakingly fast, light bit of ephemera, unequaled in the Duncan repertoire. Students have added the evocative term Butterfly to the title.
The dance begins and ends nearly in the blink of an eye. It is ingeniously designed to create the impression of aimless flitting, pausing and fluttering. The dancer is like a will-o'-the-wisp floating on the gossamer wings of a silk scarf.
In measures 9-14 and 37-44 there is a curious motion of the head which resembles a bird's tucking its head under its wing. This strange motif was especially clear when Anna Duncan performed the dance in 1929 and taught the dance to a class [I] attended.
Valerie Durham
This bright and cheerful dance is performed very fast and light, using the gathering motion of the legs with quick presses from one side to another as the dancer comes forward through the center, and then returns through the center upstage. Spiraling circles side to side and a shimmering vibrational press to the side, then skips in a wide circle with an unexpected ducking of the head climaxes in a huge expressive press to the downstage corner and then unwinds in a series of diagonal spiraling turns. At the end the mood changes, and the speed diminishes slightly as the spritely figure gives in to fatigue and ends in a gesture of yielding and vulnerability.
This dance is performed with a scarf hanging like wings from the back to the fingertips, and is often performed in tandem with "Harp Etude," Chopin Etude Op. 25 No. 1. It has also been attributed to Lisa Duncan as the choreographer.
Videos
| Title | Date | Dancers | Full Dance? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dances by Isadora: Butterfly | 2010 | Chriselle Tidrick | Yes | |
| Isadora Duncan Dance Group: Butterfly Etude | 2003-09-06 | Students of Manami Asano's Pal Ballet School, Ichihara, Japan | Yes | Staged as quartet by Barbara Kane |
| Isadora and the American Jewish Intelligentsia | 2000 | Beth Jucovy | Yes | |
| Duncan Dancers in Mignon Garland's Studio Class August 1990 | 1990-08-10 | No | Students of Mignon Garland practicing in class | |
| Isadora Duncan's 110th Birthday Celebration | 1987 | Adrienne Ramm | Yes | |
| DFI Cunningham | 1980 | Yes | ||
| One Foot on the Earth, One Eye on a Star | 1978-9-14 | Adrienne Ramm | Yes | |
| Hortense Kooluris Collection | 1978 | Yes |
Related items in the Archives
The San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design > Programs > Isadorables — Dec 28, 1919
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Isadora Duncan Centenary Dance Company — Jun 24, 1978
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Homage to Isadora — Madeleine Lytton — 1984
The Collection of Francoise Rageau > Programs > Odile Pyros Program — Jun 16, 1986
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Artwork > Four drawings of Isadora in the Butterfly Etude