Isadora Duncan’s Dance in Russia: First Impressions and Discussions. 1904–1909 Elena Yushkova Abstract This article analyzes the ways in which Isadora Duncan’s dance oeuvre was perceived in Russia by diferent sections of the literati and the intelligentsia. Although Duncan’s tours took place in 1904, 1905, 1907–1908, 1909, 1913, and again in 1921–1924 when she lived and worked in the Soviet Union, I argue that during the 1904–1909 period, Duncan’s performances were very infuential for the development of Russian ballet, theater, literature, and dance criticism. In December 1904, Isadora Duncan’s frst performance took place in St. Petersburg, at the famed Hall of the Nobles. Her Russian tours followed in 1905, 1907-1908, 1909, and 1913, and all of them were widely reported in Russian newspapers and magazines. The coverage varied according to the artistic and social contexts of certain periods, as well as to the evolution of the dancer’s ideas and techniques across diferent stages of her life. Duncan’s performances and activities of her Moscow school in 1921–1924 also produced signifcant resonance in Soviet criticism, especially as this represented a major shift in her artistic sensibilities. But for the purposes of this essay, I will analyze her performances from the 1904–1909 period, as they were extremely infuential for the development of Russian ballet, theater, literature and dance criticism. This essay represents a major historiographical departure within the history of Russian-American relations that has been for the most part concerned with diplomatic, economic and political relations, and less so with the important feld of culture. 1 While we have important accounts of the reception of Silver Age Russian 1 Christopher Lasch, American Liberals and the Russian Revolution (New York: Co- lumbia University Press, 962); David Charles Engerman, Modernization from the Other Shore: American Intellectuals and the Romance of Russian Development Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003); Malia Martin, Under Western Eyes: From the Bronze Horseman to the Lenin Mausoleum (Cambridge:Harvard University Press, 1999); Norman Saul, Concord and Confict: The United States and Russia, 1867–1914 (Law- rence: University of Kansas Press, 1996); Norman Saul and Richard McKinzie, eds., Rus- sian-American Dialogue on Cultural Relations, 1776–1914 (Columbia:University of Mis- souri Press, 1997); Robert Williams, Russian Art and American Money, 1900–1940 (Cam- bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980); William Appleman Williams, American Russian Relations, 1781–1947 (New York: Rinehart, 1952). For Russian perspectives see,