![]() ![]() In 1918 she married the English playwright, Ashley Dukes, whose support and encouragement for her work proved invaluable throughout the 41 years of their marriage. She continued to study and prepared new productions which, when performed, met with considerable public and critical success. She remained with the Company for a year.Īt the outbreak of the First World War she moved to Britain and supported herself by teaching dance and eurhythmics in schools and private homes in London. She joined the Ballets Russes in 1912 to teach eurhythmics, assist Nijinsky and dance in those ballets for which she was suitable. In 1910 she went to Jaques-Dalcroze’s School of Eurhythmics in Geneva, and when Diaghilev needed someone to help Nijinsky teach his cast the complicated rhythms of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Dalcroze recommended Marie Rambert. She was too young to begin medical studies immediately and so continued her dancing while she waited, eventually earning a modest income by giving dance recitals in fashionable Parisian salons. Her parents, however, had other plans and in 1905 Marie Rambert was sent to Paris to study medicine. Although she showed exceptional aptitude for dance at school, it was not until 1904 when she first saw the work of Isadora Duncan, that she seriously considered becoming a professional dancer. She is working to innovate the Duncan technique for the 21st Century with contemporary music selection, expanded and developed movements and challenging choreography.Marie Rambert was born in Warsaw in 1888. Valerie firmly believes that Duncan Dance is a vital aspect to the dance of today and that all dancers can benefit from its unique focus on musicality, artistry, personal expression and openness. Since discovering Duncan Dance in 1992, Valerie has focused on building, preserving and learning more about Isadora's gorgeous, timeless and inspired technique of dance and repertory of dances. She served as the founding Chair of the Isadora Duncan Archive committee and project. The organization aims to bring together practitioners of the Duncan community to expand the reach and breadth of the Duncan work throughout the world. Valerie has helped spearhead the formation of the Isadora Duncan International Symposium as an original member of the Organizing Committee. Her new choreographies in the Duncan Dance technique have been well received and performed around the country, including the National Portrait Gallery, Freer/Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian, National Cathedral, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Paris/Ballys in Las Vegas, Mercy College in New York and many other venues. Valerie is building a performing aspect to the Duncan technique in the Maryland and DC areas with performances throughout the year. She has taught Duncan Dance/Free Movement for the Academy Ballet School at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis, at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, at Strathmore-CityDance in Rockville, as well as several other dance studios in the Annapolis, Baltimore and DC areas. She graduated from the ICONS Choreographic Institute program in 2021. She is a member of Dance ICONS a global network of choreographers. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, served as the President of the Word Dance Theater Board of Directors ( and earned a Master's of Fine Arts degree in Dance at the University of Maryland in 2012. Valerie is a Teaching Artist with the John F. Valerie currently resides in Maryland, with her son, Luke. She also acts in musical and play productions along the East Coast. Valerie has taught the Duncan technique at the Isadora Duncan Foundation and Steps on Broadway in New York City, as well as at schools in Princeton, NJ, Gainesville, FL, Annapolis, MD and the Washington, DC area.ĭancing since age three, Valerie originally studied ballet, tap and jazz at schools and companies such as the Virginia Ballet, the School of Performing Arts in Orlando Florida, Brigham Young University and the University of Florida. Valerie performed with Sonke-Henderson's DuncanWorks Children's Dance Theater in Gainesville, Florida. ![]() Valerie has studied and performed as a Company Member with the prestigious Lori Belilove & Company in New York City, and has studied with Duncan Dance Masters Lori Belilove, Jeanne Bresciani, Barbara Kane, Julia Levien and Hortense Kooluris, as well as other Duncan Dance teachers including Carrie Tron, Roberta Hoffman, Lynn Armentrout, Marie Carstens and Jill Sonke-Henderson. Valerie Durham is a direct lineage Duncan Dancer who has studied the Isadora Duncan technique since 1992.
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