(1881 - 1931)
Anna Pavlova graced the world's stages as the perfect romantic ballerina. She began touring in 1914 and mesmerized audiences from all cultures with her magical grace and poetic beauty. Pavlova performed with her company and her husband, Victor Dandre, in Europe, Japan, India, Australia, South Africa, and North and South America. She first danced at Toledo's Valentine Theater on Halloween night in 1908. Pavlova's last American tour was in 1924-1925, and she spent the last twenty years of her life touring and inspiring a future generation of dancers.
Her repertoire included excerpts or adaptations of such ballet favorites as Giselle. Other notable performances were Don Quixote, La Fille mal gardée ("The Girl Poorly Managed"), The Fairy Doll, The Dragonfly, Californian Poppy, Gavotte, and Christmas. Autumn Leaves (1918) was her only choreographic work.
Pavlova was born in St. Petersburg in 1881. She first saw a performance of "The Sleeping Beauty," when she was eight and "experienced an epiphany - a baptism by ballet." 1 At ten she was admitted to the Imperial School of Ballet where she she trained under some of the greatest teachers of the day: Christian Johansson, Pavel Gerdt, Nikolai Legat, and Ekaterina Vazem. 2 At eighteen, Pavlova graduated and made her company debut in "La Fille Mal Gardee," a rank ahead of the corps de ballet. In 1902, she became second soloist, in 1905 Premiè re Danseuse, and Prima Ballerina in 1906.
In 1905, Russian choreographer Michel Fokine choreographed what is possibly one of the most famous dances in all of ballet, "The Dying Swan," to music by Saint-Saens. The Swan became Pavlova's signature work, symbolizing not a bird, but the fragility of life and the death of the beauty and tradition of the Romantic age. Pavlova was poetic to the very end, and "The Dying Swan" marked her emotional death. Just shy of her fiftieth birthday she contracted pneumonia and, reportedly, she said, "If I can't dance then I'd rather be dead." Pavlova's last words were "Get my swan costume ready," then "Play that last measure softly." When the curtain rose that night, the audience watched an empty stage in silence.
1. Kent
2. Wikipedia
Resources
"Anna Pavlova." Encyclopedia Britannica 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9058812/Anna-Pavlova 8 October 2007.
"Anna Pavlova." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Pavlova 8 October 2007.
"Anna Pavlova Dies at Height of Fame." New York Times Magazine. 23 January 1931. http://www.nytimes.com/specials/magazine4/articles/pavlova1.html 8 October 2007.
Kent, Allegra. "Heroine Worship: Anna Pavlova, The Swan." New York Times Magazine. http://www.nytimes.com/specials/magazine4/articles/pavlova.html 8 October 2007.
Kerensky, Oleg. Anna Pavlova. New York: Dutton, 1973.
Lazzarini, John. Pavlova: Repertoire of a Legend. New York: Schirmer Books, 1980.
Money, Keith. Anna Pavlova, Her Life and Art. New York: Random House, 1982.
"Playing the Valentine Some Big Names from the Past Played These Boards." The Blade (Toledo, OH) 3 October 1999. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0EAF3C7709930CA2&p_docnum=2&s_accountid=AC0107100919521111775&s_orderid=NB0107100919493518682&s_dlid=DL0107100919522911807&s_ecproduct=SBK-W3&s_subterm=Subscription%20until%3A%2010%2F16%2F2007%203%3A52%20PM&s_docsbal=Docs%20remaining%3A%202&s_subexpires=10%2F16%2F2007%203%3A52%20PM&s_docstart=3&s_docsleft=2&s_docsread=1&s_username=auburngrl&s_accountid=AC0107100919521111775&s_upgradeable=no.