This paper reviews the life of the artist, dancer and teacher Isadora Duncan born in 1878 and discusses her contribution
to American
dance. It examines how Isadora Duncan is largely credited with establishing what we now know as
modern dance and how she infused the accepted dance modalities of her day with ideas old and new. It analyzes how Duncan's attitudes and approaches came from her native America and how these ideas involved a stress upon unfettered athleticism for both men and women. Duncan wished to develop the body's capacity for jumping, stretching and expressing emotions rather than pure excellence and form in isolation.