Pamela De Fina’s New Book Illuminates the Living Spirit of Renaissance Art, Music, and Dance

An exploration of timeless beauty and human creativity, shaped by decades of research, performance, and dedication to the arts.

CA, UNITED STATES, August 25, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Author, scholar, and performer Pamela De Fina unveils her newest book, a work that brings together years of research, lived experience, and artistic practice to reveal the enduring harmony between art, music, and dance.

The book traces the evolution of Renaissance humanism—Humanitus—through the masterpieces of Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, exploring how their art reflected a balance between humanity, nature, and the universe. De Fina connects this vision back to the Ancient Greeks, who pioneered an interdisciplinary approach to the arts, and forward to modern times, showing how classical music and dance continued to carry that spirit through the innovations of Isadora Duncan and Maria Theresa Duncan.

Maria Theresa Duncan, who first danced to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, Allegretto, personally passed down the choreography to Pamela De Fina. During the pandemic, De Fina practiced this work daily, uncovering what she describes as its “living spirit”—a connection across generations that transcends time.

About the Author

Pamela De Fina was born in New York and raised in Palm Beach, Florida, where she studied ballet and jazz at Imperial Studios under JoAnna Kneeland and performed at the Royal Poinciana Playhouse alongside world-renowned ballerinas. At 16, she was awarded a scholarship invitation to study at the prestigious Harkness House of Ballet in New York City, but chose instead to pursue a life in education, earning her BA in Elementary Education and Art History.

In 1975–76, she attended the Graduate School of Fine Arts at Rosary College in Florence, Italy, where she pursued her MA in Art History and conducted research at Bernard Berenson’s Villa I Tatti. She later lived in New York City (1979–1997), studying ballet at the Harkness House of Dance, working in art galleries, and founding her own art business, Fine Arts and Antiques.

It was in 1979 that Pamela De Fina met Maria Theresa Duncan, adopted daughter and heir to the legacy of modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan. She organized Maria Theresa’s 84th birthday celebration at the Harkness House and was personally chosen by her as a protégé. De Fina became a member of the Maria Theresa Duncan Heritage Group, performing at the United Nations and studying privately with Maria Theresa for over 10 years.

Her career as a dancer, teacher, and lecturer has taken her across the U.S. and Europe, with appearances at the Sorbonne University’s International Dance Conference (1984), The House of the Redeemer (NYC), the Lannan Museum, the Norton Museum of Art, the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, and George Washington University (2019). She has also lectured for The Pen Ladies International at the Palm Beach Yacht Club.

A member of CID-UNESCO (an official partner of the United Nations), De Fina has recently presented her video and research with the Ancient Orchesis Group of anthropological dance scholars in Athens, Greece, focusing on the dances of Isadora Duncan. She is also the author of Maria Theresa: Divine Being Guided by Higher Order (2003).

Her legacy is documented in the book Making Music for Modern Dance (edited by Catherine Teck), where she is referenced in connection with her performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, Allegretto filmed at the Trianon Palace in Versailles in 2001. This archival recording is preserved at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

Pamela De Fina’s new book continues her lifelong mission of celebrating the unity of art, dance, and music—reminding readers that the spirit of beauty and harmony that shaped civilizations remains alive today.

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