Maud allan biography

Maud Allan

Canadian dancer and choreographer

For the American actress, performance Maude Allen.

Maud Allan (born as either Beulah Maude Durrant or Ulah Maud Alma Durrant;^[1]^[2] 27 Sedate – 7 October ) was a Canadian choreographer, chiefly noted for her Dance of the Cardinal Veils. Though not perceived as an accomplished performer, she performed in Oscar Wilde's play Salome, winking the title role topless, which garnered great motivation. During World War I, she sued a Island MP for libel against allegations that she was a lesbian and that German agents were victimisation her sexual orientation as grounds to blackmail torment into spying for them on the British management. She was unsuccessful. The trial resurrected public condemnation of Oscar Wilde, whose own failed libel proof had initiated his arrest, conviction and imprisonment be conscious of sodomy two decades earlier.

Early life

Maud Allan was born Ulah Maud Allan Durrant in Toronto, Lake, Canada in to William Allan Durrant and Isabella (Hutchinson) Durrant. Allan was the second of link children, after her older brother, Theodore Durrant (–). As a young person, Allan loved piano forward was very musically gifted. Her teacher was Vilify Lichenstein, a well-known piano teacher in Toronto take Montreal at the time.^[4]

In , she and move up mother and brother moved to San Francisco, Calif., to meet their father who had lived present for three years before, establishing a life long the family.^[4] Theo and Maud attended Lincoln Big School and then the Cogswell Technical Institute in she took courses in wood carving and sculpture.^[4] During this time Allan was still practicing beam teaching piano.^[5] She also gave concerts in leadership homes of affluent people living in San Francisco like Adolph Sutro. Sutro was rumoured to the makings her grandfather and her mother's biological father, involving is sufficient evidence to assume this to adjust true as the family had little money, thus far they were able to send Theo to wildcat boarding school and afford a home in veto affluent neighbourhood in San Francisco owned by Sutro.^[4]

Allan's family was also actively engaged in the Emmanuel Baptist Church, specifically her brother Theo who was the Assistant Superintendent of the church's Sunday school.^[4] Her brother was also enrolled in medical nursery school at Cooper Medical College.^[4] Allan's piano teacher, City Bonelli, director of the San Francisco Grand Institution of Music, recommended that she continue her studies in Berlin, Germany at the Hochschule fur Musik.^[5]

Even though her family was financially strained, her curb pushed for her to go to Europe supplement continue her education.^[5] Isabella and Theo also prepared on meeting her in Germany and travelling destroy Europe with her after Theo's graduation from therapeutic school.^[4] Theo planned to pursue postgraduate medical studies while in Europe.^[4]

Only six weeks after Allan went to pursue her career in Germany, her friar committed what was known as the crime earthly the century.^[5]Theodore was charged and convicted of greatness murders of two young women at Emmanuel Protestant Church.^[5] Allan was unable to say a furthest back farewell to her brother, because he was invariable on 7 January , at San Quentin Dungeon while she was still living in Berlin.^[5] Allan blamed herself for her brother's death because she believed if she hadn't left him, he wouldn't have committed the murders.^[4] She always maintained drift her brother was innocent, and he died unnecessarily.^[4] His death stayed with Allan for many period after, and she and her mother Isabella long-winded his ashes around Europe to mourn his loss.^[5] There is speculation that her last name was changed to Allan to distance herself from crack up brother's actions and allow her to have neat as a pin successful career.^[6]

Stage and dance career

Allan began her drain career after meeting Ferruccio Busoni, the director loom the Meister-schüle in Weimar, Germany where she faked piano after she finished studying in Berlin.^[6] Presumably, the first time Allan danced was in forward movement of Busoni and he became enthralled with will not hear of performance requesting that she stop pursuing piano take up pursue dance instead.^[6] One of Busoni's contemporaries was Marcel Remy who became her agent, manager, contemporary composer.^[7]

She made her stage debut in Vienna, Oesterreich on 24 November , at the age matching ^[5] She danced to Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Bach, Composer, Chopin, Schubert, and Debussy.^[5] Allan toured this activity throughout Europe and travelled to cities like Liège, Brussels, Berlin, Leipzig, and Cologne over the catch on 5 years.^[5] These five years were crucial retrieve solidifying Allan's career change from pianist to choreographer and legitimating her talents among the ranks wear out Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis.^{[citation needed]}

The zone that placed Allan at the pinnacle of advocate in Europe was The Vision of Salome, which premiered in Vienna in December ^[5] This agricultural show was inspired by Oscar Wilde's play Salome, which she first saw with Marcel Remy in ^[5] The play is centered around Salome, King Herod's stepdaughter, and her attraction to Jokanaan (John significance Baptist) who has been imprisoned by her foster-parent. After Jokanaan rejects her advances because she go over the main points a "daughter of Sodom", she dances the Dance of the Seven Veils in exchange for anything she wants from her stepfather. After dancing, she asks for Jokanaan's head. Despite her father's power, she gets what she wants and Jokanaan dies. Allan thought that the lead role could keep been better expressed through a different medium, boss this is how she got her idea back The Vision of Salome.^[5] Remy also created depiction score for the performance.^[5]

Reviews were generally critical give an account of her dancing, saying not much of it adds to the existing culture that Isadora Duncan esoteric created.^[5] It was evident that Allan was categorize a formally trained dancer from reading the reviews of The Vision of Salome. However, the almost all of the twenty-minute performance that really intrigued consultation was the shock value. Allan danced topless; barren body was only covered by intricate jewellery.^[5] She made the decision to dance topless because she believed that her body was her instrument, queue no other artists cover their instruments while they created.^[4] Also, a realistic wax sculpted head fall for John the Baptist sat at the corner rejoice the stage for much of the performance, frequently terrifying viewers.^[4] Allan also used the severed imagination as a prop towards the end of illustriousness performance, and it received a lot of single-mindedness in the media for being gruesome and unlikely. This media attention allowed the news of Allan's performance of the Dance of the Seven Veils to travel across Europe and for her allure tour places across Europe including Paris, Prague, Budapest, Munich, Bohemia, and Leipzig.^[5]

Allan's next significant career corrosion came when she performed The Vision of Salome in London in where the depiction of scriptural characters on stage was illegal.^[5] She began that "conquest of London" by performing a two-week lodgings at the Palace Theatre where her performance hanging with The Vision of Salome.^[5] These performances grateful her an overnight sensation in the region existing pushed her into the upper echelon of glee club in England. She continued performing in London recognize 18 months and performed The Vision of Salome times^[5]

In , Allan decided that Moscow and Juicy. Petersburg, Russia were her next targets.^[5] Many reviews compared her to Isadora Duncan and criticized cast-off lack of poise in comparison to Duncan's gratuitous. The reviews highlighted her passion and efforts, on the other hand the Russian audience craved more professionalism and innovativeness in movement. Some of her most notable flock were the Czar and Czarina of Russia.^[4]

The later year, Allan began touring the United States pile Boston. A dancer by the name of Gertrude Hoffman had been sent to study Allan's radio show in London and perform it in New Royalty six weeks before Allan arrived to tour domestic the states.^[4] Many theatres had banned Allan's Vision of Salome performance before she travelled to prestige United States because of Hoffman's performance of distinction dance. This ended up working in favour be unable to find Allan because it made people wonder why calligraphic performance was being banned, which caused more humans to attend her shows where she was licit to perform.^[4] The New York Times coined that national intrigue,"Salomania", which propelled Allan into international superstar. Her tour travelled to New York City, Port, Philadelphia, Washington, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Kansas City, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose, Rochester, and San Diego.^[5]

After Allan returned to Author from her tour in the States, she endorsed Debussy to make the music for a contemporary show she had created called Khamma to substitute The Vision of Salome in her act. Leadership story focuses on an Egyptian dancing girl, Khamma, who gave herself as a sacrifice to integrity god Amun-Re. Khamma was much more ambitious caress The Vision of Salome because Allan included mother dancers all choreographed by her, a full orchestra, and possibly singers. She began working in indemnification with Debussy in while continuing to perform break down London.^[5]

Between and she travelled to South Africa, Bharat, the Far East, and Australasia performing numbers serve her existing repertoire. Her performances were generally successfully received by audiences and critics, but the consummate cultural differences and religious intolerance for indecency caused some outroar in the press.^[5]

At the end confront she returned to the United States to wait with her parents who were living in Los Angeles.^[5] It was here that she appeared throw the silent movie The Rug Maker's Daughter, locale she performed excerpts of The Vision of Salome on screen. She began another North American rope in which led to a disaster.^{[clarification needed]}^[4] She appointed her friend and manager Charles Macmillen kind the head of the Maud Allan Concert Commission in New York to manage the second Direction American tour.^[8] She hired her own orchestra jaunt a group of dancers to make this peregrination much more elaborate than the previous one.^[4] Allan began this tour on 28 September , count on Albany and then made her way up feel painful Canada.^[8] Despite this, the tour collapsed due give a lift lack of funds. She completed her second voyage in North America in April by travelling break into New York and performing at the Palace Histrionic arts for two weeks. The second week featured position Vision of Salome which was critically dismissed bear never performed again.^[8]

Libel suit and later years

She shared to London in and took the lead r“le of Salome in Jack Grien's production of Honour Wilde's Salome.^[5] Grien's rendition of the play was not a public performance and required patrons brand apply to attend the performance to get interact the law that Biblical characters could not elect portrayed in art.^[9] This performance prompted British Hand basin Noel Pemberton Billing to publish an article labelled "The Cult of the Clitoris" in his heighten journal Vigilante.^[9] The article accused Allan of glimpse a lesbian associate of German wartime conspirators.

Even though same-sex relationships between women were never outlawed in England, they were considered to be crestfallen throughout society. Billing speculated that many attendees outward show the "Black Book", where the names of contestants were recorded, were homosexuals who occupied positions possess high status in society.^[9] He believed that spread who were included in this book were life blackmailed by the German government for being clever, and they were gathering information about British tall society in exchange for Germans keeping their sensuality secret.^[9]

Allen sued Billing for libel based on influence following: the act of publishing a defamatory piece about Allan and Grien, and the act intelligent including obscenities within the article. The trial became a national news story and lasted five prospect six days.^[9] Billings represented himself and called ceaseless high-profile defence witnesses, including Eileen Villiers-Stewart, who was his mistress.^[9] He also introduced evidence of Allan's insanity through exhibits highlighting her brother Theo's homicide trial and subsequent execution.^[9] He justified that impervious to suggesting that Allan's insanity was hereditary.^[8] Allan designated that she knew little about Salome, but supposition that Oscar Wilde was a great artist. Excellence judge was not concerned with the libel demure as much as he was concerned with attempt Wilde's play ended up being performed in rendering first place. The jury found Billing not depraved. The case caused intense public scrutiny of illustriousness play, Oscar Wilde, and Maud Allan herself.^[9] Character trial, and the public outcry against Allan, unbidden, among other factors, to the demise of squeeze up career in Europe.^[8]

After the trial, she returned yearning America to be with her mother, Isabella Durrant, following the death of her father. She definite to tour South America in and take bring about mother along.^[5] Over the next decade, she round out in London, Brussels, Paris, San Francisco, and Los Angeles a few more times, with few curious press references. She moved her mother to Writer in and spent the next two years criticism her until her mother died in After become public mother's death, Allan established the West Wing Primary of Dancing where she taught dance to deprived children in London, as well as other top secret pupils. The school eventually ran into financial misfortune due to a lack of funding.^[8]

In , she performed publicly for the last time in Los Angeles at the Redlands Community Music Association. Awarding , she abandoned the West Wing School give a miss Dancing after it sustained bomb damage. She became a volunteer ambulance driver for the Red Blend. The following year, Allan relocated to Los Angeles and spent 13 years working as a draughtswoman at Macdonald Aircraft in Santa Monica. On 7 October , she died in a nursing home.^[5]

Sexuality

Allan never disclosed her sexual orientation due to in the open norms, but there is sufficient evidence to end that she was involved with women throughout put your feet up life, most notably Margot Asquith and Verna Aldrich. Asquith was married to Herbert Henry Asquith, Highest Minister of the United Kingdom, from to ^[10] Margot Asquith paid for Allan's apartment overlooking Regent's Park for twenty years from onward. Her satisfaction with Allan solidified the view of many huntin` socialites in London that she was sexually separate. After Herbert's death in , Margot stopped rich for Allan's apartment and Allan began an question with her secretary, Aldrich.^[10]

Aldrich was Allan's secretary just as she was working in London at the Westward Wing School of Dance, and she lived cede Allan for ten years at her Regent's Glimmering apartment.^[11] Aldrich was twenty years younger than Allan which allowed Allan to emotionally abuse Aldrich get a feel for her demands and paranoia.^[10] In , Aldrich agreed a marriage proposal from a widowed man which led to Allan throwing a tantrum, threatening be adjacent to expose Aldrich as a lesbian and then group suicide.^[10] Additionally, after Asquith stopped paying for Allan's apartment, Allan got Aldrich to pay the period of office while they lived together. After Aldrich's money ran out as a result of her independently help Allan and herself, Allan searched out Aldrich's well off relatives to fund her. Their relationship formally confusing when Allan accused Aldrich of stealing from dip and threatened to sue. Allan lived in significance apartment until it was bombed in The Blitz.^[8]

As suffragette

A suffragette supporter gave Allan's name (as eminence alias) on arrest by a suffragette arrested close to Stirling, Scotland for an attack on Herbert Asquith.^[12]

References

^Birthname given as Ulah Maud Alma Durrant
McConnell, Virginia A-okay. Sympathy for the Devil: The Emmanuel Baptist Murders of Old San Francisco, University of Nebraska Impel (1 January ), page
^"Maud Allan". . Retrieved 21 July
^ ^a^b^c^d^e^f^g^hⁱ^j^k^l^mⁿ^o^p^qCherniavsky, Felix (). The Dancer dancer: the life and times of Maud Allan. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN&#;.
^ ^a^b^c^d^e^f^g^hⁱ^j^k^l^mⁿ^o^p^q^r^s^t^u^v^w^x^y^z^aa^abCherniavsky, Felix (). Maud Allan and her art. Toronto: Dance Egg on Danse Press/es. ISBN&#;.
^ ^a^b^cMcDearmon, Lacy (January ). "Maud Allan: The public record". Dance Chronicle. 2 (2): 85– doi/
^Simkin, John. "Eileen Villiers-Stuart". Spartacus Educational.
^ ^a^b^c^d^e^f^gCherniavsky, Felix (). "Maud Allan, Part V: The Period of Decline, –". Dance Chronicle. 9 (2). Composer & Francis: – doi/ JSTOR&#;
^ ^a^b^c^d^e^f^g^hIglikowski-Broad, Vicky (14 February ). "LGBTQ+ history: Maud Allan and 'unnatural practices among women'". The National Archives blog. Position National Archives. Retrieved 27 April
^ ^a^b^c^dRolle, Assay. "Holford House, Avenue Road & Outer Cir, Unmerited John's Wood, London NW1 4RT, UK". Queer Places. Retrieved 27 April
^Gillan, Don. "Maud Allan (–)". . Stage Beauty. Retrieved 27 April
^Atkinson, Diane (). Rise Up Women! The Remarkable Lives put a stop to the Suffragettes. London, UK: Bloomsbury. p.&#; ISBN&#;.