Anna Pavlova (dancer)
|
Anna Pavlova as Nikiya in the Grand Pas Classique of the Shades from Act III of La Bayadère, circa 1902 |
Anna Pavlova is also the name of an Olympic gymnast. See Anna Pavlova (gymnast).Anna Pavlovna Pavlova (Анна Павловна Павлова) (
31 January 1881 (
Old Style)/
12 February 1881 (
New Style) -
23 January 1931) was a famous
ballet dancer of the early
20th century.
She was born in
St. Petersburg, Russia to a poor peasant family. She later claimed her father had died when she was two years old. It is possible she was illegitimate, and biographers speculate that her father may have been
Jewish, which would explain her desire not to speak too much about her paternal heritage. She was rejected at the age of eight from the School of
Imperial Ballet because she was too young. When she was 10, she was accepted, and trained there until she left at 16. Pavlova then danced with the
Mariinsky Theatre. In the first years of the
Ballets Russes she worked briefly for
Serge Diaghilev before founding her own company and performing throughout the world.
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. Pavlova was thin, delicate-looking, and ethereal, 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", so Pavlova retouched all her photos to hide the boxy platform. But this became the modern pointe shoe, as pointe work became less painful and easier for arched feet.
Her most famous showpiece was
The Dying Swan choreographed for her by
Michel Fokine, danced to
The Swan from
Carnival of the Animals by
Camille Saint-Saëns.
She died of
pleurisy in
The Hague, Netherlands while touring, a few days or weeks before her 50th birthday. Her last request was to hold her costume from
The Swan, and 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].
The
Pavlova dessert was named after her, although its origins are disputed. Both
New Zealand and
Australia have claimed the credit.
Ruth St. Denis, a popular modern dancer said "Pavlova lived on the threshold of heaven and earth as an interpreter of the ways of God".
*
Anna Pavlova in Australia " 1926, 1929 Tours - material held by the National Library of Australia*
Pictures of Anna Pavlova - digitised and held by the National Library of Australia*
Creative Quotations from Anna Pavlova(1881-1931)*
Andros on Ballet*
Heroine Worship: Anna Pavlova, The Swan
