March 28 – Happy Birthday, Abraham Walkowitz

Posted on March 28, 2019

In the 1880s, Jews in Russia faced pogroms (violent government-incited riots) that killed many and ran off many others. Perhaps that's why the very young Abraham Walkowitz (born on this date in 1878) and his mother left Siberia, Russia, and came to the U.S.

Walkowitz always loved to draw. As a child he drew all over the floors and "everything" with chalk. 

Later he studied art in Europe, and it was there - specifically in France - that he met a dancer who was also from the U.S.; Isadora Duncan had grown up in California, but she lived most of her life in Europe and the Soviet Union.

Like many other artists and thinkers of the time, Walkowitz was impressed by the way that Isadora Duncan shrugged off the "rules" of dance, created her own never-before-seen style, and portrayed freedom and beauty with her movements. Duncan is considered the Mother of Modern Dance, and Walkowitz was inspired by her creativity.

How inspired was Walkowitz?


He created more than 5,000 drawings of Isadora Duncan. These drawings, which capture the fluidity and freedom of Duncan's movements, are considered by some to be his most significant achievement.

Also on this date:

Something on a Stick Day 

Barnum and Bailey Day

Teachers' Day in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Weed Appreciation Day

What's in a Name Day

Ragnar Lodbrok Day in Scandinavia

Mule Day in Columbia, Tennessee

Anniversary of Robert Goddard's first successful use of gyroscopes to control a rocket

Birthday of artist Raphael

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• March holidays
• March birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in March

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• April holidays
• April birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in April

May 27 – Happy Birthday to the “Mother of Modern Dance”

Posted on May 27, 2014

Although the world-famous dancer and choreographer Isadora Duncan was born in America – in my home state of California, actually – she lived most of her adult life in Europe and the Soviet Union.

Duncan (born on this date in 1877, according to some sources) grew up very poor, in a “broken home” (her parents divorced, so her mom raised her and her two brothers and sister). Her mom was a piano teacher who was passionate about the arts, and Isadora discovered an early passion, too, in dance. She began to teach “movement” to neighborhood children when she was just six years old. By the time she was ten, her classes had become pretty large, and she and her older sister dropped out of school to work teaching dance for pay.

When Duncan first went to Europe, she studied Greek mythology, and she fell in love with flowing tunics worn by the Ancient Greeks. She learned about the ancient rituals surrounding dance, and she developed a unique style that she carried into her own work as a dancer and choreographer.

For example, she often dressed like this when she danced:

At the time that Duncan was introducing dancing barefoot in loose, flowing tunics, everyone else was into rigid ballet technique, corseted costumes, and painful-to-wear pointe shoes. Duncan combined her love of Ancient Greece with Americans' love of freedom as she introduced natural movements such as skipping, plus “great strides, leaps and bounds, with lifted forehead and far-spread arms.” 

Duncan was a maverick off the dance floor, too, but she faced great tragedies in her life. She had three children, but they all died in childhood. Her husband was mentally ill and committed suicide. Isadora Duncan herself died earlier than she should have – at age 50 – when her long, flowing scarf tangled in the spokes of the automobile she rode in, and her neck was broken.

The world always loves a good, gossipy story, and Duncan's life allowed plenty of such stories. But the world mostly remembers her as a dancer who earned fame and acclaim in Europe, and as a pioneer whose work led to an entirely new, much freer form: modern dance.

To this day, there is a dance company
carrying on Duncan's work.

Here is a sample of some of this natural, modern movement. Note: this is a pretty old video, but I'm sure it was filmed decades after Duncan died.

This video clip, I believe, offers some very early motion picture footage of Duncan herself. 

Also on this date:

Physicist Lawrence M. Krauss's birthday  

Cellophane Tape Day 

Feminist Amelia Bloomer's birthday

Environmentalist Rachel Carson's birthday

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• May holidays 
• May birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in May

And here are my Pinterest boards for:
• June holidays
• June birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in June

May 11, 2013 - Happy Birthday, Martha Graham

She is considered by some the Picasso of Dance!

Martha Graham (who was born on this date in 1894) helped to create a new era in modern dance. Modern dance rejects some of the rigid choreography and costuming of traditional ballet and focuses more on torso movements. It's also known for occasionally using distinctly non-ballet feet with flexed, not pointed, toes.

Oh, and (often) dancers dancing with bare feet!

Here are some impressive facts about Graham:

• She danced and choreographed for more than seventy years!
  
  
• She was the first dancer ever to perform at the White House.
  
  
• She received the highest non-military award of the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  
  
• She received the Key to the City of Paris and Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown.
  
  
• She was named Dancer of the Century by People magazine.

An amazing quote from Graham:

If you want to be great, but you're not sure you are, or that you ever will be, remember what Martha Graham told another dancer:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open....

No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching....”

The Google Doodle from two years ago portrays some of the "feel" of Graham's choreography.

Here is a video of a Graham-choreographed dance.  

Plan Ahead...

Check out my Pinterest boards of May holidays, historical events in May, and May birthdays.

Also on this date:

Birthday of the first known “Siamese twins” 

Songwriter Irving Berlin's birthday

Anniversary of the first printed book (maybe)