Isadora Duncan

Born in California in 1877, Isadora was brought up with her three siblings in a household filled with art and creative expression.  At a young age Isadora exhibited a great love for dancing, although she did not find acceptance in her style until she went to London and danced her way through Europe. Fond of skimpy Grecian costumes and free-form dance style, Americans criticized her while Europeans embraced her. In 1904 she opened her first academic and dance school in Germany where she focused on children from lower class homes. Several other schools would follow across Europe.

Isadora's love for children was well-known, although she believed marriage was a very restrictive arrangement and therefore avoided it. However, tragedy struck when her own two children drowned along with their governess is a terrible automobile accident. Following the death of her beloved children, Isadora stopped dancing for a while but rekindled her life a few years later when she "adopted" several of her students who would come to perform on stage with her.

On September 14, 1927, Isadora met an untimely death caused by her habit of wearing extremely long scarves that trailed behind her. While riding in an automobile with a friend, the end of her scarf was caught in the open-spoke wheel and wrapped around the axel, pulling Isadora out of the car as it sped away and breaking her neck instantly.