An MTSU professor will share the artistry of the woman known as “The Mother of Modern Dance” in a three-day festival of workshops, performances and master classes April 27-29 in Nashville.

“Isadora Duncan: Art, Myth & Movement” is set Friday-Sunday at various Nashville locations. Meg Brooker, an assistant professor of dance, will lead the event in partnership with Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation.

Meg Brooker, an assistant professor of dance at MTSU, performs “Bacchanal” at Moscow’s Isadora Duncan Dance Festival during a May 2017 study-abroad trip. (Photo courtesy of Meg Brooker)

“Isadora Duncan created an expressive dance reflective of natural forces like wind and waves and danced in silk tunics with bare feet,” Brooker said.

“Her philosophy of dance and life emphasized free expression, and during her lifetime, she became a globally visible celebrity, using her fame to advocate for the rights of women and children.”

Brooker, a founder and steering committee member of the Isadora Duncan International Symposium, has performed Duncan’s works throughout North America, Europe and Russia. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Texas-Austin.

The Duncan Dance Project, a regional dance company Brooker co-founded, will offer a master class on Duncan’s technique and repertoire at 9:30 a.m. Friday in Suite 257 of Houston Station, 457 Houston St.

Dancers of all levels will be welcome to explore dynamic, whole-body movement powered by rhythmic footwork and breath-supported gestures.

Meg Brooker

New Dialect, a Nashville-based nonprofit dance collective and training program, is offering the class through its contemporary cross-training series and encourages participants to arrive in time to sign in and warm up.

“The Art of Dance,” a new exhibit, will open with a reception Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Centennial Art Center. Brooker and other dancers will perform Duncan’s choreography to the music of Frederic Chopin and Franz Schubert beginning at 7:15 p.m. Friday in the center in celebration of the exhibit.

Organizers also are inviting children to experience the joy of dance in “Workshop: Kidsville at the Parthenon” at 11 a.m. Saturday inside the Parthenon. Dancers will show youngsters how the running, skipping and leaping that are natural parts of their playtimes can be integrated into dances.

From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Brooker will deliver a lecture about the intersections between Duncan’s life, world events and the body of work she created. The professor also will show videos of iconic repertory pieces that illustrate Duncan’s development over the course of her career. Attendees are invited to bring their lunches.

Isadora Duncan performs in costume in this photo from 1904. (Photograph by Hof-Atelier Elvira; from the Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations)

Dancers will demonstrate the freedom of expression that Duncan embodied in “Community Workshop: The Aesthetics of Isadora” at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Centennial Performing Arts Studios. The movement workshop is open to all levels and will culminate in a shared dance.

The Duncan Dance Project, in collaboration with Duncan Dance South, will perform choreographies inspired by two Christoph Gluck operas in “Isadora Duncan: Dances of Orpheus and Iphigenia” at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Parthenon.

Dancers from the MTSU Dance Program, the Centennial Youth Ballet and the Barfield School of Dance will join the two professional companies.

All events are free except the Friday master class, which costs $12, and the Saturday community workshop, which is $10.

For more information, contact Brooker at 615-898-5023 or margaret.brooker@mtsu.edu or visit www.friendsofmetrodance.org/duncan-weekend.html.

For more information on MTSU’s new dance degree or the MTSU Dance Program, go to www.mtsu.edu/dance.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

MTSU dance professor Meg Brooker performs one of iconic artist Isadora Duncan’s dances in this promotional photo from the Duncan Dance Project. (Photo courtesy of Meg Brooker)