Varshavianka (1924)

Loyola University Chicago Department of Fine and Performing Arts Presents

Classical (R)evolution

Loyola’s Annual Dance Concert
FEB 11-14, 2016

Varshavianka (1924)

Choreography: Isadora Duncan
Staged and Coached by Jennifer Sprowl
Composer Jozef Plawinski
Costumes: Alex Wren Meadows

Reference: Nahumck, Nadia Chilkovsky. Isadora Duncan: The Dances. Washington DC: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1994.

The music is said to have originated during an 1831 uprising of Polish prisoners in Tsarist Russia. The words used by Duncan were popular in Russia during its revolutionary days. The dance portrays a shock-troop brigade, whose members rescue the flag (imaginary in the original dance) from fallen standard bearers and bring the battle to a victorious conclusion.

Isadora Duncan is reported to have arrived on the scene of the 1905 St. Petersburg massacre—"Bloody Sunday"—just days after it occurred. She dedicated the dance to the massacre victims. In the original version, the dancers also sang.

Maria Blanco
Emma Carlisle
Nicole Golonka
Katarina Ivanovic
Jordan Kunkel
Meghan McVann
Kelsee Simons
Jennifer Smith
Skylar Summerson
Isabelle Taylor
Virginia VanLieshout
Gina Wrolstad
Charlie Morris
Leslie Bahena (Understudy)