She Changed the Air When She Danced

Mary Hinkson

Judith Jamison in Cry 1976

 

 Isadora Duncan

Loie Fuller 1902

1983ish me with 50 yards of silk
I was lucky enough to dance Loie's and Isadora's dances

via historical reconstruction by Karoun Tootikian click here

Lucky enough to see Mary and Judith perform, and take classes from them. They had stature, baby.

It has taken me years of struggle, hard work, and research

to learn to make one simple gesture,

and I know enough about the art of writing

to realize that it would take as many years

of concentrated effort to write

one simple, beautiful sentence.  

~ Isadora Duncan

You were once wild here. Don’t let them tame you.

~ Isadora Duncan

Parfum Inconnu by Houbigant 1925

Karoun Tootikian

I had the opportunity to work with Karoun Tootikian on historical reconstructions for performances of Isadora Duncan and Loie Fuller choreography. (1982-83)

Here we are pictured as she showed me some tricky moves from Indian dance.

Karoun was extremely generous.
She worked with Ruth St. Denis from 1945-1965, heading the faculty and Oriental Department of Miss Ruth's Los Angeles school. She presented classes in St. Denis' dance techniques and various forms of Oriental dance. She performed with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn at Jacob's Pillow.

Sandy Broyard, who introduced me to modern dance while at Ballet Etudes Repertory Company (teaching us Shaker dances to Iron Butterfly's Innagaddadavida), took me to Jacob's Pillow, an airy, converted barn, theater, when I was young. here

What is most memorable from that occasion was that in the midst of trying to comprehend the historical importance of location, the DeniShawn legacy, and the performance, was that Sandy went into an absolutely uncontrollable fit of shaking giggles, which were contagious. It took awhile before she could gasp, "Bats" and pointed to them amidst the rafters and choreography.

Tootikian's dance studies included Adolph Bolm, Michio Ito, La Meri and Benjamin Zimoch and, she was a member of Lester Horton's first dance company. (While I was performing with Group Motion Multi-Media Dance Theater, a few members taught us Horton's signature falls and slides.)

Among other guest artists visiting the St. Denis School, while Karoun was there, were Charles Weidman, Mary Wigman, Harold Kreutzberg, Leon DestinŽ and Uday Skhankar.

Robert Hawkinson, Miss Ruth's pianist and musical arranger, was Tootikian's husband. I performed to his recordings of Chopin for the Isadora Duncan piece.

Karoun Tootikian died April 3,2000 at age 91.


photos: Ken Hamilton