Flood performs Duncan dances

The Sonoma Arts Live’s Showcase series will feature a performance of the dances of Isadora Duncan at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, in Andrews Hall of the Sonoma Community Center.

Lois Flood will perform historical dances inspired by Duncan’s classical aesthetic dance movement. Sonoma dancer Katie McDonald will also be featured, and poet-artist Marjorie Lynn Wagner will narrate.

Flood, who began studying ballet in 1969, has focused on Duncan’s revolutionary style of dance for the last 30 years. She founded Diablo Dance Theater and Ballet Petite, both in Danville, and has taught dance all over the Bay Area.

Born in San Francisco, Duncan became a world-renowned artist also known for her revolutionary ideas and commitment to social change.

Dubbed the “Mother of Modern Dance,” she became a symbol of revolution and women’s emancipation. World-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin named her one of his greatest inspirations, saying she was “perhaps the greatest woman the world has ever known.” She has been acknowledged by two major newspapers, the Oakland Tribune and the Washington Post, as one of the most influential people of the 20th century.

According to Flood, an estimated 80 dances from the Duncan repertory have been handed down through generations from teacher to student, dancer to dancer.

“Inspired by natural movement and set to exquisite classical music, Isadora’s dances are lively expressions of passion, strength, grief, defiance, and grace,” she said.

Donations are requested at the door, with net proceeds benefitting Sonoma Arts Live.

For more information, visit sonomaartslive.org/sonoma-arts-showcase.