Anna Pavlova

At 49 years old, Anna Pavlova has this physical status:

Anna Pavlovna Pavlova (born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova; February 12 [O.S. January 31] 1881 – January 23, 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.

She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev.

Pavlova is most recognized for her creation of the role of The Dying Swan and, with her own company, became the first ballerina to tour around the world, including South America, India and Australia.

Early life

Anna Matveyevna Pavlova was born in the Preobrazhensky Regiment hospital, Saint Petersburg where her father, Matvey Pavlovich Pavlov, served. Some sources say that her parents married just before her birth, others—years later. Her mother, Lyubov Feodorovna Pavlova, came from peasants and worked as a laundress at the house of a Russian-Jewish banker, Lazar Polyakov, for some time. When Anna rose to fame, Polyakov's son Vladimir claimed that she was an illegitimate daughter of his father; others speculated that Matvey Pavlov himself supposedly came from Crimean Karaites (there is even a monument built in one of Yevpatoria's kenesas dedicated to Pavlova), yet both legends find no historical proof. Anna Matveyevna changed her patronymic to Pavlovna when she started performing on stage.

Pavlova was a premature child, regularly felt ill and was soon sent to the Ligovo village where her grandmother looked after her. Pavlova's passion for the art of ballet took off when her mother took her to a performance of Marius Petipa's original production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Imperial Maryinsky Theater. The lavish spectacle made an impression on Pavlova. When she was nine, her mother took her to audition for the renowned Imperial Ballet School. Because of her youth, and what was considered her "sickly" appearance, she was rejected, but, at age 10, in 1891, she was accepted. She appeared for the first time on stage in Petipa's Un conte de fées (A Fairy Tale), which the ballet master staged for the students of the school.

Personal life

Victor Dandré, her manager and companion, asserted he was her husband in his biography of the dancer in 1932: Anna Pavlova: In Art & Life (Dandré 1932, author's foreword). They had secretly married in 1914 after first meeting in 1904 (some sources say 1900). He died on 5 February 1944 and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes placed below those of Anna.

Dandré wrote of Pavlova's many charity dance performances and charitable efforts to support Russian orphans in post-World War I Paris

Fifteen girls were adopted into a home Pavlova purchased near Paris at Saint-Cloud, overseen by the Comtesse de Guerne and supported by her performances and funds solicited by Pavlova, including many small donations from members of the Camp Fire Girls of America, who made her an honorary member.

During her life, she had many pets, including a Siamese cat, various dogs, and many kinds of birds, including swans. Dandré indicated she was a lifelong lover of animals and this is evidenced by photographic portraits she sat for, which often included an animal she loved. A formal studio portrait was made of her with Jack, her favorite swan.

Source

Career

The public was taken aback by Pavlova's style at a time when Petipa strictly adhered to academic standards: she regularly performed with bent knees, poor turnout, misplaced port de bras, and incorrectly placed tours. In many ways, such a style harks back to the time of the romantic ballet and the great ballerinas of old.

In ballets including La Camargo, Le Roi Candaule, Marcobomba, and The Sleeping Beauty, Pavlova performed in various classical styles, pas de deux and pas de trois. Her enthusiasm often led her astray: In Petipa's The River Thames, her energetic double pique turns led her to her stumble, resulting in her falling into the prompter's box. When performing in Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty, Candide's poor ankles caused her to have a difficult time, prompting the ballerina to revise the fairy's jumps en pointe, much to the Ballet Master's surprise. She tried to imitate Pierina Legnani, Prima ballerina assoluta of the Imperial Theaters, in a desperate attempt to imitate the renowned Pierina Legnani. She attempted Legnani's famous fouettés once more in class, causing her tutor, Pavel Gerdt, to go into a rage.

He told her,

Pavlova climbed through the ranks quickly, becoming a favorite of the old maestro Petipa. Pavlova took the lead role in Paxton Aspicia, Princess Aspicia, in The Pharaoh's Daughter, Le Roi Candaule and Giselle, from Petipa himself. She was born danseuse in 1902, première danseuse in 1905, and then prima ballerina in 1906 after a rousing debut in Giselle. Petipa's many grand pas for her, as well as several other minor variations, were updated. Her legions of followers called themselves the Pavlovatzi, and she was much feted by Tsarist Saint Petersburg's fanatical balletomanes.

Mathilde Kschessinska, a ballerina, was pregnant in 1901 and she mentored Pavlova in the role of Nikiya in La Bayadère. Kschessinska, who didn't want to be upstaged, was certain Pavlova would fail in the role because of her small ankles and leg leg bones. Rather, audiences were enchanted by Pavlova and her frail, ethereal look that fit the role perfectly, particularly in the scene The Kingdom of the Shades.

Pavlova is perhaps best known for her role as The Dying Swan, a solo choreographed for her by Michel Fokine. Camille Saint-Saint's ballet, which was created in 1905, is adapted to Le cygne from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saint. Pavlova also choreographed several solos herself, one of which is The Dragonfly, a short ballet set to Fritz Kreisler's music, is one of them. Pavlova wore a gossamer gown with large dragonfly wings attached to the back when she was in the role.

Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina had a rivalry. Karsavina recalls a costume malfunction in the film A Portrait of Giselle. Her shoulder straps fell and she mistakenly revealed herself, and Pavlova brought an empowered Karsavina to tears during one of her appearances.

Pavlova spent a brief time with Sergei Diaghilev in the first years of Ballets Russes. Originally, she was supposed to dance in Mikhail Fokine's The Firebird, but she turned down the role because she was unable to comply with Igor Stravinsky's avant-garde score, and Tamara Karsavina was given the lead. Pavlova adored the melodious "musique dansante" of the old maestros, Cesare Pugni and Ludwig Minkus, throughout her life, but was not concerned with anything else that broke away from the 19th century's salon-style ballet music.

Pavlova left Ballets Russes' first season in Paris and formed her own company. It was a success around the world, with a repertory largely consisting of abridgements of Petipa's works and a set of choreographed pieces for herself.

Going independent was

Pavlova has performed many 'ethnic' dances, some of which she learned from local teachers during her travels. She appeared in Mexican, Japanese, and East Indian dances in lieu of Russian dances. Supported by her passion, Uday Shankar, her dance partner in "Krishna Radha" (1923), went on to revive the long-neglected art of the dance in India. She also visited China.

In 1916, she produced a 50-minute version of The Sleeping Beauty in New York City. Members of her company were mainly English girls with Russianized names. Pavlova's company toured throughout South America from 1918 to 1919, during which time Pavlova wielded an influence on the young American ballerina Ruth Page.

She appeared in the film The Dumb Girl of Portici (1915), in which she played a mute girl deposed by an aristocrat.

Pavlova's family immigrated to London, England, settling in 1912, north of Hampstead Heath, where she lived for the remainder of her life. The house had an ornamental lake where she fed her pet swans, and George Henry Paulin's statue of her has been on display. In the film Anna Pavlova, the house was featured. It used to be the London Jewish Cultural Centre, but a blue plaque marks it as a place of vital historical interest, especially Pavlova's home. Pavlova, who lived in London, was instrumental in British ballet's creation, most notably inspiring Alicia Markova's career. The Gate pub, which is located on the border of Arkley and Totteridge (London Borough of Barnet), has a tale about Pavlova and her dance company's visit.

At least five monuments to Pavlova in London, England: a contemporary sculpture by Tom Merrifield of Pavlova in the grounds of Ivy House, a bronze statue of the Dragonfly, a bronze statue in Golders Green Crematorium, and a gilded statue. When the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, England, opened in 1911, a gilded statue of Pavlova had been installed over the cupola of the theatre. During World War II, this was taken down for its security, but it was later lost. In 2006, a recreation of the original statue was installed in its place.

Anna Pavlova hired Efrem Kurtz to accompany her dancing in 1928, a practice that she did not have until 1931. Cleo Nordi, another St Petersburg ballerina, became her personal assistant during her five years as a professional dancer who left the Paris Opera Ballet in 1926 to join her company and accompany her on her second Australian tour to Adelaide, Brisbane, and Sydney in 1929. Nordi married Walford Hyden, Pavlova's British musical director, on board ship. Nordi aided Pavlova's flame in London well into the 1970s, where she taught hundreds of students, including many ballet actors.

Pavlova made almost annual tours of the United States from 1912 to 1926, from coast to coast.

Pavlova was introduced to audiences in the United States by Max Rabinoff during his tenure as the company's managing director from 1914 to 1917, and she appeared with her Russian Ballet Company during that time.

After being entangled at the last minute by Hattie B. Gooding, who was responsible for a number of worthwhile musical performances delivered to the St. Louis audience during the 1913-2014 season, Pavlova performed in 1914. Gooding travelled to New York to speak with the attraction's musical executives. She chose those that have a long list and that she believes would delight St. Louisans. Madame Louise Homer, prima donna contralto of the Metropolitan Grand Opera Co., was followed by Josef Hoffman, pianist, Anna Pavlova, and the Russian ballet. The expenses for two nights ($50,796 in 2021 dollars) and the receipts $7,500.00 ($205,631 in 2021 dollars), netting a substantial gain of $2,000.00 ($54,835 in 2021 dollars), were proportionately profitable; her other evenings were also profitable, with a net increase of $2,000.00 ($54,835 in 2021 dollars). The advance sales were higher than in any other city in the United States. The Pavlova concert, when Gooding was involved, the Russian dancer for two nights, became dubious and urgently pleaded for four special advance agents to support her. The couple slid back to New York on the evenings, fully convinced of their ability to attract audiences in St. Louis, which had always been dubbed "the worst show town" in the country.

Source