Editing Isadora Duncan (section)

===Opening schools of dance===
Duncan disliked the commercial aspects of public performance, such as touring and contracts, because she felt they distracted her from her real mission, namely the creation of beauty and the education of the young.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} To achieve her mission, she opened schools to teach young girls her philosophy of dance. The first was established in 1904 in Berlin-[[Grunewald (locality)|Grunewald]], Germany. This institution was in existence for three years and was the birthplace of the "[[Isadorables]]" (Anna, Maria-Theresa, Irma, Liesel, Gretel, and Erika<ref>Sturges (1990), p. 39</ref>), Duncan optimistically dreamed her school would train “thousands of young dancing maidens” in non-professional community dance.<ref>Kurth (2001), p. 168</ref> It was a boarding school that in addition to a regular education, also taught dance but the students were not expected or even encouraged to be professional dancers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Duncan |first=Irma |title=Duncan Dancer: An Autobiography |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |year=1966 |isbn=9780819577931 |pages=163–186}}</ref> Duncan did not legally adopt all six girls as is commonly believed.<ref name=":0">Kurth (2001), p. 392</ref> Nevertheless, three of them (Irma, Anna and Lisa) would use the Duncan surname for the rest of their lives.<ref>Kurth (2001), pp. 365, 392</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Kisselgoff |first=Anna |date=1977-09-22 |title=IRMA DUNCAN DEAD; DISCIPLE OF ISADORA (Published 1977) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/22/archives/irma-duncan-dead-disciple-of-isadora-foster-daughter-of-dancer-was.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408001146/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/22/archives/irma-duncan-dead-disciple-of-isadora-foster-daughter-of-dancer-was.html |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |access-date=2024-03-06 |work=[[The New York Times]] |pages=28 |language=en}}</ref> After about a decade in Berlin, Duncan established a school in Paris that soon closed because of the outbreak of [[World War I]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/isadora-duncan-1877-1927-the-mother-of-modern-dance-101714348/114147.html|title=Isadora Duncan, 1877–1927: The Mother of Modern Dance|work=VOA|access-date=2018-02-16|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Paul Swan - Portrait of Isadora Duncan, wearing a blue dress, with a beaded necklace, 1922.jpg|thumb|upright|A portrait of Duncan in 1922 by dancer [[Paul Swan (dancer)|Paul Swan]].]]

In 1914, Duncan moved to the United States and transferred her school there. A townhouse on [[Gramercy Park]] in New York was provided for its use, and its studio was nearby, on the northeast corner of [[23rd Street (Manhattan)|23rd Street]] and [[Park Avenue|Fourth Avenue]] (now Park Avenue South).<ref>Sturges (1990), p. 120</ref> [[Otto Hermann Kahn|Otto Kahn]], the head of [[Kuhn, Loeb & Co.]], gave Duncan use of the very modern Century Theatre at [[List of numbered streets in Manhattan|West 60th Street]] and [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)#Central Park West|Central Park West]] for her performances and productions, which included a staging of ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' that involved almost all of Duncan's extended entourage and friends.<ref>Sturges (1990), pp. 121–124</ref> During her time in New York, Duncan posed for studies by the photographer [[Arnold Genthe]].

Duncan had planned to leave the United States in 1915 aboard the [[RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania'']] on its ill-fated voyage, but historians believe her financial situation at the time drove her to choose a more modest crossing.<ref>{{cite magazine| title= 8 Famous People Who Missed the Lusitania| author= Greg Daugherty| magazine=Smithsonian Magazine| url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/8-Famous-People-Who-Missed-the-Lusitania-205849981.html|date=2 May 2013}}</ref> In 1921, Duncan's leftist sympathies took her to the [[Soviet Union]], where she founded a school in Moscow. However, the Soviet government's failure to follow through on promises to support her work caused her to return{{when?|date=December 2021}} to the West and leave the school to her protégée Irma.<ref>Duncan (1927), p. 422</ref> In 1924, Duncan composed a dance routine called ''Varshavianka'' to the tune of the Polish revolutionary song known in English as ''[[Whirlwinds of Danger]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87ZJkVZBbjM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/87ZJkVZBbjM| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Varshavianka (1924)|last=Aaron Greer|date=7 March 2016|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>