Raymond Duncan (dancer)

In 1900, he met the German poet Gusto Graeser in Paris, and was deeply impressed by his ideas of natural and simple life.

Duncan became particularly fond of Greece; he and his Greek wife, Penelope Sikelianos, sister of renowned Greek poet Angelos Sikelianos, lived in a villa outside Athens which was furnished in a historically accurate manner, with many of the furnishings handmade by Raymond, whose craftwork included ceramics, weaving, and carpentry.

Each school, based on the idea of the Platonic Academy, was "an open house for every new effort in theatre, literature, music and art".

[4] Duncan's ultimate goal was a "complete technique of living" which, by synthesizing work, the arts, and physical movement, would result in the further development of man.

At the age of 73, Duncan proposed creating the city of "New Paris York" at latitude 45N, longitude 36W (in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean) as a symbol of cooperation and inter-cultural communication.