Photo credit: Julie Cordeiro Photography
To see DANCES BY ISADORA is to be allowed a rare glimpse of the classic beauty and haunting honesty that shocked audiences nearly a century ago and made dance history. Dances by Isadora is a non-profit dance company dedicated to the preservation of the repertoire and technique of Isadora Duncan and the presentation of new works which comment on the past while looking to the future.
Sandra Zarotney Keldsen manages the Boston division of Dances by Isadora, and directs our teaching and performing activities in the Boston/New England area. Sandra began her exploration of the Duncan work with Dances by Isadora co-founder Catherine Gallant as a student at the Boston Conservatory. Sandra joined Dances by Isadora upon completing her BFA at the Conservatory in 1993, and has taught and performed with the company ever since, training with Duncan master teachers Sylvia Gold, Patricia Adams and Catherine Gallant. Sandra has also performed in the Boston area with Daniel McCusker and Dancers, Lorraine Chapman the Company and Kelli Edwards. She is a 200 hr YTT certified yoga instructor and she teaches dance and yoga at Center Stage Performing Arts Studio in Quincy, MA. Sandra also serves as the Assistant Director of the Executive Development Roundtable at Boston University Questrom School of Business.
Patricia Adams (co-founder, Dances by Isadora) began performing Duncan’s work in 1977 as a member of the Isadora Duncan Repertory Dance Company, under the direction of Sylvia Gold. In 1989 she co-founded Dances by Isadora with Catherine Gallant. She has performed and taught throughout the United States, in Russia, Japan, Hungary, Finland, and Canada, and at numerous colleges and studios in the Boston area. In addition to many years of study with Sylvia Gold, her teachers include Julia Levein, Hortense Kooluris, and Gemze DeLappe, and her long-time collaborator, Catherine Gallant. Now semi-retired, she continues to perform with Dances by Isadora and is a Psychotherapist in private practice in Sharon, MA.
Kelli Edwards joined Dances by Isadora in 1996 under the tutelage of Patricia Adams. Kelli has also performed with choreographers Marcus Schulkind, David Parker, Sara Rudner, Ruth Birnberg, Brian Crabtree and in her own work. Her choreography has been seen in numerous shows at The New Rep, The Huntington, American Repertory Theatre, and Actor’s Shakespeare Project among others. Kelli is currently on the performing arts faculty at Milton Academy.
Irene Lutts has been dancing in the Boston area since 1997. She has had the honor of performing with Caitlin Corbett, Daniel McCusker, Marcus Schulkind, Brian Crabtree, Kelli Edwards, Lorraine Chapman The Company, Back Porch Dance Company, and Jody Weber among others. Irene currently dances with Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion and has been a part of Dances By Isadora since 2012.
Upcoming performances/events:
The Life and Art of Isadora Duncan at the Thomas Crane Public Library, Richardson Room, Quincy, MA. Sunday, April 30th, 2017 at 3pm. Admission is FREE. Come witness a rare glimpse of the classic beauty and haunting honesty that shocked audiences nearly a century ago and made dance history in a spectacular performance by Dances by Isadora – Boston, dedicated to preserving her work as a living art.
Sandra Zarotney Keldsen was interviewed on Quincy Public Access Television speaking about the Quincy Library event.
Dances of the Spirit: The Works of Isadora Duncan. Mount Auburn Cemetery, Saturday, June 24th, 2017 at 2pm. $10 for Friends of Mount Auburn members and $20 for the public. Known as the “mother of modern dance,” Isadora Duncan created a series of mourning dances following the accidental deaths of her two children in 1913. Dances by Isadora will perform these evocative dances of wind, sea, darkness, and light in Hazel Dell.
Past performances/events:
- Southern Vermont Dance Festival (SVDF) Gala Performance at the Latchis Theater, Brattleboro, VT – July 15, 2016, 8pm
- Southern Vermont Dance Festival (SVDF) Isadora Duncan Master Classes at the Latchis Theater, Brattleboro, VT – July 16, 2016 – Beginner Level 9:15-10:45am, Advanced Level 11:30am-1pm
- Shaker Dance Revival 2016 at the Canterbury Shaker Village, New Hampshire
- Isadora Duncan International Symposium 2015, Chicago, IL
- Cambridge Multicultural Center April 2015
- The Dance Complex, September 2014
- Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA
- Keene Public Library, Keene NH
- Somerville Arts Council presents: Dancing in the Streets
- Old Saybrook, CT – Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 2nd Annual Dance for Peace
- Medford Arts Council, Royall House
- Stonehill College
- Tufts University Friday Performances
Photo credit: Julie Cordeiro Photography