The Furies

From Cynthia Splatt: The dances for Gluck's Orpheus were remarkable in their scope. Isadora played one of the Blessed Spirits in the Elysian Fields but also the Furies in Hades. Her portrayal of the damned and demonic Furies was unlike any dance seen on stage before. Sweeping the stage with her hair, clawing the air with contorted fingers, mouthing unutterable screams, vainly writhing in hideously reptilian postures, she was repulsive to behold, the personification of impotent evil. This was dance at its ugliest—a terrifying portrayal of the dark side of soul. This was Modern Dance, unafraid of the reality. Even the once uncertain American audiences appreciated her work.