Chesterwood, the historic home, studio and gardens of sculptor Daniel Chester French, presents a special program with Ian Spencer Bell to kick off the fourth season of the Arts Alive! performance series on June 8th at 5:30 p.m. Dancer, poet and choreographer Ian Spencer Bell will reconstruct Isadora Duncan’s famous solo “The Many Faces of Love” with live music by classical pianist Lauren Aloia, set in the historic gardens. Bell opens with “Duncan-Giselle Loop” in which Bell combines an encore that Duncan performed in Paris in 1908 with the Mad Scene from the 1841 ballet “Giselle.” Then he performs “Six Chelsea Love Poems,” named for his neighborhood in New York City. Bell closes the program with his re-creation of “The Many Faces of Love,” solos that are rarely performed by a male dancer, set to 16 Waltzes, Op. 39 by the late 19th c. German composer Johannes Brahms. Duncan was a pioneer of modern dance and her celebration of classical ideals combined with her natural, athletic movement revolutionized dance and theater. Bell studied Duncan from third-generation Duncan dancers Lori Belilove, founder of Isadora Duncan Dance Company, and Catherine Gallant, founder of Dances by Isadora, in New York City. The performance will take place outdoors 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 Sunday, June 9th at 5:30 p.m. Advance reservations are highly recommended at www.chesterwood.org/arts-alive-2024

Bell began working on the project two years ago 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. French’s wife, Mary, wrote in her memoirs “she danced on the upper terrace of the garden, with her long fragile figures, poppies in her hair, her fleeting motions, she seemed like a Greek figure come to life she was most beautiful.” Bell states that “Like Isadora Duncan, I often dance in silence and make the very personal public.”

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