Anna Pavlova

Photographic postcard of Anna Pavlova as Aspicia in the Petipa/Pugni The Pharaoh's Daughter, circa 1910

File:Anna Pavlova - La Bayadere -1902.jpg

Anna Pavlova as Nikiya in the Grand Pas Classique of the Shades from Act III of the Petipa/Minkus La Bayadère, circa 1902

Anna Pavlovna Pavlova (31 January 1881 (Old Style)/12 February 1881 (New Style) – 23 January 1931) was a famous ballet dancer of the early 20th century. This legendary prima ballerina was known for her daintiness, frailness and lightness on stage and in choreography. Her movements had infinite finesse, delicacy and emotional dimension. A native Russian, Pavlova remained largely committed to the classic style of ballet for the duration of her career - even while contemporaries like Isadora Duncan were introducing revolutionary innovations to dance.

The pairing of Pavlova and a swan in Michael Fokine’s “The Dying Swan,” marked her rise to fame. It was a profound allegory for the ballerina figure: the awkward body, when put through a series of unnatural steps, becomes superhuman, otherworldly, more graceful than grace's symbol.

Pavlova revolutionized the ideal for ballerinas. Because of her extremely arched feet, a pointe shoe with leather soles and a flattened box at the toe for added support was altered for her and became the modern point shoe. More noteworthy was Pavlova's entrepreneurial endeavor of her own ballet touring company which created pathways for females in ballet to etch out their own place in the world. Between 1910 and 1925, her company traveled 300,000 miles and gave nearly 4,000 performances.

Biography

Pavlova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia two months premature. We are not well informed about her parentage. She was born to laundry-woman Lyubov Feodorovna Pavlova, and reserve soldier Matvey Pavlov. Yet, Pavlov may not have been Anna’s biological father, as many suspect Anna was the illegitimate offspring of Lyubov and a Jewish banker Lazar Poliakoff. The young Anna Pavlova herself seemed to adopt the name Anna Pavlovna Pavlova instead of Anna Matveyevna Pavlova, with reference to a mysterious Pavel — supposed first husband of her mother who died when Anna was two years old.

When she was 8, her mother took her to a performance of "The Sleeping Beauty," at St. Petersburg Ballet Academy and Pavlova experienced an epiphany - a baptism by ballet. She knew in that instant that it was her life’s calling. That year, she applied to the Imperial Ballet School – a privileged dance institute - but was rejected because she was too small for her age. She was asked to return when she reached her tenth year. Two years later, she was admitted to the Imperial School of Ballet.

Because of her talent and elusive qualities, Pavlova soon attracted attention from her teachers, amongst whom were Pavel Gerdt, Christian Johansson and Ekaterina Vazem (creator of the role of Nikiya in La Bayadère), and the famous ballet master [[Marius Petipa. There were some disagreements as to her physique and her good looks, but not about her being something “special.” At the annual graduation performance of 1899 she made quite an impression on the jury, and it was announced that she would join the Imperial Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre later that year, as a coryphee, that is, bypassing the corps de ballet. ]]. The Mariinsky Theatre was home to Russian ballet and opera since the 1860s and had become a mecca for both Russian and international artists. She made her debut on September 19, 1899, in La Fille Mal Gardée.

She rose through the ranks quickly, as she was a favorite of Maestro Petipa - a man of great influent at Mariinsky. She was second soloist in 1902, première danseuse in 1905, and finally prima ballerina in 1906 after a resounding performance in ''Giselle'', for which Petipa modified the ballerina's dances to suit her specifically. Today, this revised version is still performed at the Mariinsky.

During the season 1901-1902, Pavlova's reputation became firmly established with the knowledgeable Tsarist St. Petersburg balletomanes. The balletomanes or balletomaniacs, as the 'hard core' Mariinsky audience referred to themselves always took much interest in the pupils at the academy, as they of course did in company members. Anna’s legions of fans took on an entirely different group name, indicative of the Ballerina they adored. They called themselves the Pavlovtzi.

The interest in Pavlova and other principal dancers might often have gone beyond the mere artistic, but certainly the balletomanes’ love of ballet was as genuine as their desire to cultivate personal relationships with the dancers. One amongst them looked upon Pavlova especially favorably: Victor Dandré, a minor aristocrat and member of the St. Petersburg municipal council who had followed her career from her schooldays.

Rise to Fame: "The Dying Swan"

Pavlova was already an acclaimed ballerina when, in 1905, Michel Fokine choreographed ''"The Dying Swan"'' for her to music by Saint-Saens; it became her personal emblem. As absurd as it was for a woman to imitate a swan because of their dissimilar body parts and that the bird’s grace is only seen while swimming, Pavlova en pointe and in motion had no duckish quality whatsoever. "The Dying Swan" was not about a woman impersonating a bird, it was about the fragility of life and the passion with which we hold on to it. Pavlova's sheer dramatic intensity forcibly conveyed this truth to the audience, and the work was an instant success.

When Russian impresario, Serge Diaghilev, launched the Ballet Russes in 1909, Pavlova was one of 13 dancers in the company - and a principal at that. It created a sensation in Western Europe because of the great vitality of Russian ballet compared to what was current in France at the time. It would became the most influential ballet company in the 20th century, and that influence, in one form or another, has lasted to this day. Originally Pavlova was to dance the lead in Mikhail Fokine's ''The Firebird'', but refused the part, as she could not come to terms with Stravinsky's score. The role went to Tamara Karsavina instead.

In 1907, she began her first tour to Moscow, and by 1910 was appearing at the Metropolitan Opera House in America. In the meantime, in St. Petersburg a scandal was brewing: Victor Dandré was accused of the embezzlement of government money. Pavlova and the balletomane had grown quite close over the years. Following Pavlova's return to Russia he was released on bail, after having promised not to leave the city. But within a few weeks, Pavlova was performing in London for Diaghilev, and early in 1912 Dandré slipped out of Russia and joined her. In 1914, she was traveling through Germany on her way to England when Germany declared war on Russia. Her connection to Russia was for all intents broken. Dandre remained by her side as her touring manager.

Later Years

Pavlova and Dandré settled permanently in London. She rented a house, which she later purchased, on The North End Road in Hampstead. This house, which became known as Ivy House, was to be the base for Pavlova's world tours. She gathered her own company and traveled widely, presenting ballet all over the world - even in places where classical ballet had never been seen before. Millions must have seen her dance, and she attained the status of a super star.

Perhaps the only weakness of her career was that she chose too often to dance “pretty,” self-choreographed dances to insignificant and often sentimental music. She was considered by many people to be supremely unintelligent. Unlike Tamara Karsavina, with whom one could converse about anything, Pavlova showed no interest in anything but her next performance. These faults, however, were as nothing when compared to the incandescent beauty of her dancing, her bourees like a string of pearls, as the ballet writer Cyril Beaumont put it.

For the rest of her life, she toured the world with her own company and kept her home in London, where her exotic pets were constant company when she was there. Victor Dandré, her manager, was also her companion, and may have been her husband (she deliberately clouded this issue).

Death

She died of pleurisy in The Hague, Netherlands while touring, three weeks before her 50th birthday. Her mother and father died of cancer and the doctors thought that she might also have it. She received medical treatment, but it was unsuccessful.

Anna said "If I can't dance then I'd rather be dead. So can you prepare my swan costume." Her final request was to hold her costume from The Swan. Her last words were "Play that last measure very softly."

In accordance with ballet tradition, on the day she was to have next performed, the show went on as scheduled, with a single spotlight circling an empty stage where the dancer would have been. She was cremated, and services were held in a Russian Orthodox church in London before burial in Golders Green Cemetery in London. Her remains were moved in 2001 to the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow in accordance with her requests and after considerable controversy.[1]

Legacy

Pavlova forever changed the ideal for ballerinas. In the 1890s, ballerinas at the Mariinsky Theatre were expected to be strong technicians, and this usually meant a strong, muscular, compact body. When prima ballerina assoluta Mathilde Kschessinska became pregnant in 1901, she coached Pavlova in the role of Nikya in La Bayadere. Kschessinska was certain Pavlova would fail miserably in the role, as she was considered technically weak.

Instead audiences became enchanted with Pavlova and her frail, ethereal look. Pavlova was thin and delicate-looking; she was perfect for romantic roles such as Giselle. Her feet were extremely arched, so she strengthened her pointe shoe by adding a piece of hard leather on the soles for support and flattening the box of the shoe. At the time, many considered this "cheating." But this became the modern pointe shoe, as pointe work became less painful and easier for curved feet.

Indeed, she was an act all by herself. Anna Pavlova was often called the consummate ballerina because she maintained the same elegance on- and offstage. The public loved her image, her fashion, and her aura of satin and roses. But she made them adore her with her fierce drive and undaunted presence, proclaiming, "God gives talent, but work transforms talent into genius." Pavlova was instrumental in bringing ballet to the masses, converting new fans everywhere she went and moving them to tears with her most famous showpiece The Dying Swan, choreographed for her by Michel Fokine, danced to "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.

• The Pavlova dessert was named after her, although its origins are disputed. Both New Zealand and Australia have claimed the credit.

• Modern dancer Ruth St. Denis has said "Pavlova lived on the threshold of heaven and earth as an interpreter of the ways of God."^{[citation needed]}

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Fonteyn, Margot. Pavlova : portrait of a dancer. Viking, 1984. ISBN 0670543942
• Kerensky, Oleg. Anna Pavlova. Dutton, 1973. ISBN 0525176586
• Levine, Ellen. Anna Pavlova, genius of the dance. Scholastic, 1995. ISBN 0590443046

External links

All Links Retrieved November 8, 2007.

• Anna Pavlova in Australia – 1926, 1929 Tours, National Library of Australia. www.nla.gov.au.
• Creative Quotations from Anna Pavlova. creativequotations.com.
• Andros on Ballet. michaelminn.net.
• Heroine Worship: Anna Pavlova, The Swan. www.nytimes.com.
• Anna's Brief Biowww.womenshistory.about.com
• Early Russian Dancerwww.artandculture.com
• Pavlova Short Biography

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