Chopin — Mazurka in B flat major, Op. 17, No. 1 (Sister Mazurka or Boy/Girl Mazurka)
- Music:
Chopin — Mazurka in B flat major, Op. 17, No. 1
- Original choreography by: Isadora Duncan (c. 1923)
- Categories: lyrical dances
Reconstructed by Julia Levien and Hortense Kooluris.
Notes
Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck
Reference: Nahumck, Nadia Chilkovsky. Isadora Duncan: The Dances. Washington DC: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1994.
A vignette of two young women dancing, gossiping, parting and coming together.
Valerie Durham
This dance features a huge bounding skip forward with arms spreading open and then under curve skip back with arms gathering overhead, which the two dancers perform alternating - one going forward, the other going back. They sweep back with a jump together, turning and forming circles overhead, sharing a look. The dance repeats this skip and sweep phrase, and then changes to an almost gypsy-like standoff between the two dancers, who, with hands on hips, step closer to each other, and then away, falling into a chase and catch gesture, leading back to a repeat of the opening skip and sweep motif. In the final repeat, the skipping gesture can actually circle around each other, and in the final moment, the chase and catch motif appears, before the dancers run off, perhaps to play again in another field at another time. The playfulness, the glancing moments, the tiny tantrum in the middle of the dance, evoke impressions of childhood and sibling rivalry, of human relationships that are simple and child-like in their emotional expression, meaning and impact.
Videos
| Title | Date | Dancers | Full Dance? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dances by Isadora: Sister Mazurka | 1995 | Catherine Gallant, Loretta Thomas | Yes | |
| Chopin's Ballspiel and Sister Mazurka | 1989-04-23 | Ann Cogley, Mary Sano | Yes | |
| DFI Cunningham | 1980 | Yes | ||
| Douglass College | 1978 | Hortense Kooluris, Gemze de Lappe | Yes | |
| Dances by Isadora: Sister Mazurka | Kelli Edwards, Sandra Zarotney-Keldsen | Yes | ||
| Isadora Duncan Repertory Dance Company performs Sister Mazurka | Yes |
Related items in the Archives
The San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design > Programs > Isadorables — Dec 28, 1919
The Collection of Mignon Garland > Programs > The Isadora Duncan Dance Memorial, 1952 — Dec 14, 1952
The Collection of Mignon Garland > Programs > S.F. Duncan Dancers, The Heritage of Isadora — 1989
The Collection of Mignon Garland > Programs > S.F. Duncan Dancers, Hotel Nikko — 1991
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Isadora Duncan Dancers — Nov 15, 1929
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