Lori Belilove's Isadora Duncan Dance Company Returns to Untermyer Gardens

Lori Belilove's Isadora Duncan Dance Company returns to the exquisite setting of Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers with a program of dances by Isadora Duncan, along with original works by Belilove, including her "Tribute to Ukraine," Sunday September 3 at 5 PM.

The first half of the program will feature new creative works by Lori Belilove set to music by Max Richter, Vivaldi, and Bach.

The evening will include signature works by Isadora Duncan to the music of Chopin, and Belilove's new piece titled “Tribute to Ukraine” honoring the heroism, valor, and grit of the Ukrainian people. Belilove, herself of Ukrainian ancestry, takes her inspiration from Isadora Duncan's heroic dances (Marche Heroique, Varshavianka) that evoke the cry, the terror, the loss. 

More About Tribute To Ukraine:
In 1921, Duncan returned to the USSR to start a school of dance at the invitation of the new Soviet government, whereby she believed she was participating in the formation of a free and heroic society.  Ignited, she assimilated her personal passion for political change with a vision of the universal humanitarian fight.

Belilove was inspired to re-stage Isadora’s dance Varshavianka (1924) to the Ukrainian National Anthem, in response to the horrors of the current Russian invasion.  In the dance, heroes die and are re-born, but ideals outlast the trials and tribulations of war.  What began as a single soldier on stage grows to an ever accumulating force as the dancers mourn the dead, share in suffering, and finally rise heroic.
Complimenting Belilove’s interpretation of Varshavianka is her original choreography, titled Comrades, reflected in a lone female voice of universal grief.  Opening the suite is Duncan’s Marche Heroique (1916), staged by Belilove and set to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique,” III. Allegro molto vivace, where a formidable, proud march inspires the dancers' call to action and endurance.

Belilove, a foremost interpreter of Isadora’s work, understands the timeless freedoms Isadora sought - the same freedom that Ukraine seeks, all humanity seeks.

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