Isadora is from the Greek *Isidoros* ("gift of Isis," the Egyptian goddess of magic and motherhood) — used as a Christian-era given name across Byzantium and the Mediterranean. **Isadora Duncan (1877-1927)** — **American dancer and choreographer; widely considered the Mother of Modern Dance — she rejected the corseted, en-pointe technique of classical ballet for free-flowing, barefoot movement inspired by ancient Greek vases, the rhythms of breath and waves, and the moral conviction that dance should express human emotion rather than spectacle**. **Founded schools in Berlin (1904), Paris (1914), and Moscow (1921, at the invitation of Vladimir Lenin)**; her 1922 marriage to Soviet poet Sergei Yesenin briefly made her the most-watched American in Soviet Russia. **Notorious tragic death in Nice in September 1927 — her long silk scarf became entangled in the spoked wheel of an Amilcar automobile, killing her instantly; Gertrude Stein later commented "affectations can be dangerous"**. **Her autobiography *My Life* (1927) is among the most-read dance memoirs of the 20th century**. **Isadora Bing** — *Friends* recurring character. **Isadora Smackle** — *Girl Meets World*. **Saint Isidora of Egypt** — 4th-century Coptic Christian.
Featured throughout modern dance history.
Isadora reduces to five — the number of Mother of Modern Dance.