Throughout history, dance performers have pushed the boundaries of acceptable dress. At a time when it was considered inappropriate for a woman to expose an ankle or calf, on stage doing so was, conversely, required. For the sake of improving technical skills and freeing the body to move, ankles, calves, and knees started to emerge, until eventually the entire leg was visible.
Dancers have paved the way for fashionable women to explore new ways to display their bodies generally and their legs in particular. One of the most famous modern dancers was Isadora Duncan. In 1900, she took Paris by storm, questioning and breaking all boundaries of propriety and good taste.[1] Although she was born and raised in the United States, her breakthrough occurred on European ground, where her radical performances enchanted high society, artists, and taste-makers. She was known as the “bare foot dancer” although she claimed to be “shocked dreadfully” to hear herself so described.[2] Footwork aside, her great innovation as a dancer was to eliminate the corset, which in turn unified the upper body and legs to create smooth, sensuous, and extended movement
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