THE TRIAL OF ISADORA DUNCAN
« I’m dancing barefoot, heading for a spin, some strange music
drags me in, makes me come on like some heroine »–patti smith
INQ
Miss Duncan, you are on trial for idealism.
DUNCAN
Are you part of the dream police?
INQ
No, I represent modern commercial interests.
DUNCAN
I don’t think there is a difference.
INQ
How do you plead?
DUNCAN
When all of the arts are again reunited — and only then –
wiill theater truly live again in its true expression. The first actor was a dancer. We must return to the Greek tragedies to be reborn..
INQ
Miss Duncan, this is the 20th century, in a land called America.
We no longer believe in tragedy. We believe in technology.
DUNCAN
(duncan dances & mimes)
INQ
Oh you want to play a game……
Ooh, ooh.sounds like, two words. Wait, wait. Ahhhhh.I’ve got it.
You want to do the same thing for poetry that Walt Whitman did for poetry
AHHH, you think they lack soul.
Miss Duncan, I appreciate your enthusiasm, your compassion ,
but I must tell you – I don’t think America is interested.
The last thing anyone in America wants to hear is that they lack soul.
Even more so, they don’t want to be reminded.
And they will turn on you at the drop of a penny for the slightest reminder
Yes, you want to enrich their lives. But they want to fatten their wallets.
And you think you will find a rich American millionaire,
to help create your school based on the Greek ideals,
perhaps in this audience?
I am afraid not. A prophet is not recognized at home, Isadora Duncan.
How could they possibly recognize a Goddess?
CLERK
Isadora Duncan, telegram.
DUNCAN
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT ALONE CAN UNDERSTAND YOU — STOP – – COME TO US – STOP. WE WILL MAKE YOUR SCHOOL.
INQ
If you accept this offer, you’ll never dance again in America.
You’ll be called a traitor and a Communist.
You’ll take your chances. Well you always have.
Good luck, Isadora., you’ll need it.
(BLACK OUT AND RETURN)
INQ
Back so soon, Miss Duncan?
DUNCAN
They promised me a school.
They gave me a cold water flat in the Russian winter.
INQ
Here we promise you nothing. But we hold out the hope ………
that anything , anything , can happen in show business.
DUNCAN
That is not exactly comforting dear.
INQ
Ohhh, Isadora. It is not unusual for a revolution to be betrayed.
Yes, I’ve heard the stories
ID
Artists standing in line to kill themselves. Even my husband,
INQ
But how could they have been so naive
as to throw themselves away like that for a revolution?
Warm promises and cold reality.
ID
And then my two children were killed in a car accident on the Seine.
INQ
I’m truly sorry, Isadora. You are living the return of Greek tragedy.
You need some illusions to continue living.
Isadora, return to Europe.
Find a place in the sun – southern France perhaps.
There are many great painters living there.
(ISADORA RISES — DISTRAUGHT — AND STUMBLES)
INQ
Good luck, Isadora. And WATCH OUT for that scarf.
*******
RETURN OF THE GODDESS
Isadora Duncan:
I SEE THE RETURN
OF THE PERFECTLY NATURAL NAKED BODY
IT WILL BE A GLORIOUS EXPRESSION
OF BODY & SPIRITUAL BEING
ONCE AGAIN IN HARMONY
CHORUS:
HOW DARE YOU STEAL YOUR POWER BACK?
HOW DARE YOU DANCE BAREFOOT?
HOW DARE YOU DANCE IN PAGAN DRESS?
BARE BENEATH REVEALING TUNIC?
ID:
A LONG LOST DANCE
THE BODY EMERGING AGAIN
FROM CIVILIZED FORGETFULNESS
HER TWO HANDS OUTSTRETCHED
HER FINE HEAD TOSSED TO THE SKY
HER FOREHEAD SHINING
WITH A CROWN OF A MILLION STARS
CHORUS:
HOW DARE YOU DREAM THE FORGOTTEN DREAM?
HOW DARE YOU VOICE THESE LONG LOST THOUGHTS
HOW DARE YOU BARE YOUR NAKED SOUL?
MUCH LESS YOUR NAKED BODY?
ID:
DANCE IS THE MOVEMENTS OF THE HUMAN BODY
IN HARMONY WITH THE MOVEMENTS OF THE EARTH
ALL FREE NATURAL MOVEMENTS CONFORM
TO THE LAWS OF WAVE MOVEMENT
IT IS THE ALTERNATED ATTRACTION & RESISTANCE
OF THE LAWS OF GRAVITY THAT CAUSES THIS MOVEMENT
FROM THE SOLAR PLEXUS, THE TEMPORAL HOME OF THE SOUL
THE BODY CONVERTS INTO A LUMINOUS FLUIDITY
SURRENDERING TO THE INSPIRATION OF THE SOUL
THE HUMAN SOUL-LIGHTER THAN X-RAYS
CHORUS:
HOW DARE YOU REMEMBER PARADISE?
HOW DARE YOU ENVISION ETERNAL LIFE?
HOW DARE YOU STARE INTO GOD’S FACE
AND SEE AN EYE FOR AN EYE & A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH
ID:
OH WOMAN. WHAT IS THE GOOD OF US
LEARNING TO BECOME LAWYERS & PAINTERS
WHEN THIS MIRACLE WITHIN EXISTS?
LIFE, LIFE, LIFE, GIVE ME LIFE
THE SEA WAS BLUE,THE SUN WAS BURNING
ALL OF NATURE WAS BURSTING INTO BLOOM
THE DAY MY SON WAS BORN
WHAT DID I CARE FOR ART?
I FELT I WAS A GOD SUPERIOR TO ANY ARTIST
WHAT WORDS COULD DESCRIBE THIS JOY?
CHORUS:
PERHAPS SHE HAS HAD SECOND THOUGHTS
PERHAPS SHE HAS RETURNED TO THE FLOCK-
PERHAPS SHE WILL ABANDON HER WILD REBELLION
REPENT & ASK FORGIVENESS?
ID:
MY ART IS NOT FOR THE MUSIC HALL BUT FOR A TEMPLE OF MUSIC
I HAD COME TO EUROPE TO BRING A RENAISSANCE OF RELIGION THROUGH THE DANCE TO BRING THE KNOWLEDGE
OF THE HUMAN BODY THROUGH THE EXPRESSION
OF ITS MOVEMENTS NOT TO DANCE FOR THE AMUSEMENT
OF OVERFED BOURGEOISE AFTER DINNER
ALONG WITH THE ACROBATS & TRAINED ANIMALS
CHORUS:
SHE MUST BE CHASTISED SHE MUST BE PUNISHED
SHE MUST BE SILENCED WE MUST EXACT JUSTICE
STRIP OF HER FULSOME PRIDE LET HER LOVELIFE BE FORSAKEN
NO,NON, NO THAT IS NOT ENOUGH
LET US TAKE AWAY HER CHILDREN
ID:
DANCE IS NOT A DIVERSION
BUT A RELIGION ART IS THE FLOWER
THE SPIRITUAL BREAD OF MANKIND
(ISADORA, IN TURBAN,ROBE & SCARF, SINKS TO THE FLOOR,
WRITHES, & IS STRANGLED BY HER SCARF)
CHORUS: ACCIDENTS HAPPEN
see tightrope web page and YouTube:
Tightrope 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUpXqoe5HnI
7:47