| Maria-Theresa Duncan | |
| Birth Name: | Theresa Kruger |
| Birth Date: | April 18, 1895 |
| Birth Place: | Dresden, Germany |
| Death Place: | New York, New York |
| Occupation: | Dancer, educator |
Maria-Theresa Duncan (1895–1987) was a concert dancer. She is best known as a member of the Isadorables and as a subject for Edward Steichen.
Duncan was born on April 18, 1895, in Dresden, Germany.[1] [2] In 1904 Maria-Theresa Duncan was discovered by Isadora Duncan. Her parents were persuaded to let their daughter move to Grünewald where she lived at a boarding school and studied dance with Isadora Duncan.[2] Maria-Theresa became part of the dance troupe Les Isadorables. She and other young women in the troupe were legally adopted by Isadora.[3] Maria-Theresa Duncan danced under the direction of Isadora from 1905 though 1921.[2]
In the early 1920s Duncan married an art dealer, Stefan Bourgeois, with whom she had two children.[1] Bourgeois died in 1962.[2]
Duncan continued dancing through the 1920s and 1930s. She performed at Carnegie Hall, as well as a command performance at the White House for the Roosevelts (Franklin and Eleanor. She founded a dance company named the Heliconiades and opened a dance academy.[1]
Edward Steichen used Maria-Theresa Duncan as a subject of photographs, notably The Arms of Maria Theresa Against the Background of the Erectheum[4] and Wind Fire.[3]
Duncan taught and danced throughout the 1950s when she performed the Festival Cycle. In the 1960s she performed Farewell to the Dance.[2]
Duncan died on December 14, 1987, in New York City.[5]