{{Short description|Dancer and teacher of dance (1897–1977)}} {{Use mdy dates |date=May 2025}} {{Use American English |date=May 2025}} {{Infobox person |name = Irma Duncan |image = File:Irma Duncan, 20 ans - btv1b53076764c.jpg |alt = |caption = Duncan at age 20 (in 1917) |birth_name = Irma Dorette Henriette Ehrich-Grimme |birth_date = {{birth date|1897|2|26|mf=y}} |birth_place = Schleswig-Holstein, Germany |death_date = {{death date and age|1977|9|20|1897|2|26|mf=y}} |death_place = Santa Barbara, California, U.S. |other_names = |occupation = Dancer, educator |years_active = |known_for = |notable_works = |alma_mater = }} '''Irma Duncan''' (February 26, 1897 – September 20, 1977) was a German-born American dancer and a teacher of dance.
==Biography== Duncan (born '''Irma Dorette Henriette Ehrich-Grimme''')<ref name="NYPL">{{cite web |title=Irma Duncan Collection of Isadora Duncan materials |url=https://archives.nypl.org/dan/19640 |publisher=New York Public Library |access-date=17 May 2025 |archive-date=May 24, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250524180823/https://archives.nypl.org/dan/19640 |url-status=live }}</ref> was born on February 26, 1897, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
In 1905, she began studying with American-born dancer and choreographer Isadora Duncan at her school in the Berlin suburb of Grünewald, Germany.<ref name="NYPL"/> She was one of six students of Isadora Duncan that became the young dance troupe the Isadorables. The group moved to New York City at the beginning of World War I. At that time, all the students changed their last names to Duncan.<ref name="ANB">{{cite web |title=Duncan, Irma |url=https://doi-org.dm.oclc.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1800337| work = American National Biography |edition= online |access-date=15 May 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1921, she relocated to Moscow where she taught at the Duncan School. She became the director of the school in 1924 when Isadora Duncan left to return to the United States.<ref name="New York Times">{{cite web |last1=Kisselgoff |first1=Anna |title=Irma Duncan Dead; Disciple of Isadora Duncan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/22/archives/irma-duncan-dead-disciple-of-isadora-foster-daughter-of-dancer-was.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=19 May 2025 |date=22 September 1977 |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408001146/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/22/archives/irma-duncan-dead-disciple-of-isadora-foster-daughter-of-dancer-was.html |url-status=live }}</ref> That group, the Isadora Duncan Dancers of Moscow, toured in the Soviet Union, China and the U.S. At the end of the 1929 U.S. tour, Irma chose to stay in the U.S. rather than return to Moscow.<ref name="ANB"/><ref name="New York Times"/>
In 1935, Duncan obtained U.S. citizenship. The same year, she married Sherman S. Rogers.<ref name="NYPL"/>
In 1966, the Wesleyan University Press published her book ''Duncan Dancer: An Autobiography''.<ref name="Isadora Duncan Archive">{{cite web |title=Irma Duncan |url=https://www.isadoraduncanarchive.org/dancer/2/ |publisher =Isadora Duncan Archive |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref>
Duncan died on September 20, 1977, in Santa Barbara, California.<ref name="ANB"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Irma}} Category:Place of birth missing<!-- "Schleswig-Holstein" is a state --> Category:1897 births Category:1977 deaths Category:20th-century American biographers Category:20th-century American dancers Category:20th-century American women educators Category:20th-century American educators Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century German biographers Category:20th-century German dancers Category:20th-century German women educators Category:20th-century German women writers Category:20th-century people from California Category:20th-century people from New York (state) Category:American dance teachers Category:American female dancers Category:American modern dancers Category:American women autobiographers Category:American autobiographers Category:Dancers from California Category:Dancers from Moscow Category:Dancers from New York City Category:Educators from New York City Category:Educators from California Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States Category:Entertainers from Brandenburg Category:Entertainers from Schleswig-Holstein Category:German female dancers Category:German expatriates in Russia Category:German women autobiographers Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from Oberspreewald-Lausitz Category:Writers from New York City Category:Writers from Santa Barbara, California