AN EDWARDIAN SENSATION
Maud Allan’s story reads like a modern-day tabloid … filled with libel suits, murder and tempestuous love affairs. At the height of her career, Maud was a dance sensation in Edwardian London where she was the face of collectors’ items ranging from cigarette silks to coffee tins.
She was a contemporary of the forerunners of modern dance: Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis, but is the least known of this group of revolutionary dance artists.
She attained international stardom through her tasteful “dance interpretations”, which she cleverly contrasted with the daring costume she wore in her chef d’œuvre The Vision of Salomé. Women adorned their clothing with beads to imitate the spectacular garment, and newspapers praised the famed “Salomé dancer” for her grace and elegance.
As with any public infatuation, however, her success was short-lived. Within two years of her sensational 1908 London debut, Maud’s career began to crumble and she experienced the humiliating fall from international acclaim into obscurity.