Chesterwood Presents

By Margaret Cherin, Senior Site Manager

Chesterwood, the historic home, studio and gardens of sculptor Daniel Chester French, presents a special program with choreographer Ian Spencer Bell to kick off the third season of its Arts Alive! performance series. Bell will dance a reconstruction of Isadora Duncan's 1912 solo The Many Faces of Love on Wednesday, June 21 at 5:30 p.m. in the Studio Garden. He will be accompanied by pianist Lauren Aloia. The program will also include a new dance and poetry piece, Rosing, created by Bell. The performance will take place in two outdoor locations, both with seating. A talk and a reception follow. General admission to the event is $25, Chesterwood members $20, and free for all under 18. The rain date is Thursday, June 22 at 5:30 p.m. Advance registration is recommended at www.chesterwood.org/schedule-2023.

Bell began working on the project last year as a Dancer-in-Residence at Chesterwood, when he learned that the sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) and Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) not only knew each other but also that Duncan had danced for French in his Studio Garden during the summer of 1898. Duncan was a pioneer of modern dance and her celebration of classical ideals combined with her natural, athletic movement revolutionized dance and theater.

Bell was taught the Duncan choreography from Lori Belilove, a third-generation Duncan dancer, and the founder and director of Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation and Company in New York City. For Bell's own work, Rosing, he recites six original, intimate poems about a past relationship as he falls, swings, lunges, and leaps. Bell states that "Like Isadora Duncan, I often dance in silence and make the very personal public."

Bell has danced his solos at the Boston Center for the Arts, Jacob's Pillow, the Poetry Foundation, and the Queens Museum. Classical pianist Lauren Aloia has performed with Lancaster Symphony Orchestra and Newtown Chamber Orchestra.

Chesterwood, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is the former summer home, studio, and gardens of America's foremost sculptor of public monuments, Daniel Chester French (1850 – 1931). French is best known for his sculptures of the Minute Man (1871 – 75) and the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln (1911 – 22) for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Situated on 122 acres in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Chesterwood is recognized as both a National Historic Landmark and a Massachusetts Historic Landmark.

...and the season for Rhododendrons!