Today's story is about the greatest Russian ballerina, not just a star, but a treasure of the world ballet scene, Anna Pavlova. This is a dancer who turned the world of Russian ballet upside down - it was with her that a new era of sensuality and sophistication in ballet began. Everything artificial, feigned faded into the background, the soul became higher than the race for mastery. Before the advent of Anna Pavlova, Russian ballet was dominated by the era of Italian dancers who were engaged abroad. Their dance was as pompous as it was virtuoso. Anna Pavlova broke this tradition not only with impeccable choreography, but also with the endless sincerity of her dance.
Little is known about Anna Pavlova's personal life - she published a book of memoirs, but we learn almost nothing about the dancer's life from this story: it is entirely devoted to art. Pavlova was born in February 1881 in the family of a simple washerwoman Lyubov Fedorovna Pavlova, but it is assumed that she was the illegitimate daughter of a rather wealthy merchant Lazar Polyakov. This can explain the fact that her mother was able to pay for her studies at the Imperial Ballet School, where Anechka did not enter without difficulty - they did not want to take her because of her poor health. The girl was born seven months old, suffered from anemia, frequent colds and excessive stoop. However, the famous Marius Petipa already then saw the young talent and was not mistaken.
Anna devoted herself to her studies, she was not afraid not of the difficult conditions of training, nor many hours of training, nor numerous prohibitions, nor separation from her relatives - she was born for ballet and dreamed only of it. There are legends about Pavlova's self-denial - she went on stage with a fever, sick, exhausted, with sprained ligaments, and in America she even performed with a broken leg.
After graduating from college, Anna was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, and in 1906 she became the leading ballerina of the troupe. Anna also had an idol - Maria Taglioni, an Italian dancer, whom Pavlova looked up to and who inspired her to creativity and hard work. Did Anechka know how much she would surpass her inspirer?
His most famous part - a choreographic miniature dying swan staged by Fokin, she first performed in 1907. Later, this production will become an unconditional symbol of Russian ballet.
In 1910, Pavlova left the Mariinsky Theater and created her own troupe, which successfully and extensively toured abroad. After 1914, Anna moved to live in England and never returned to Russia. She connects her fate with the scandalous Russian lawyer Victor Dandre. Their relationship is mysterious and hidden in a veil of secrecy. Some sources believe that Victor suffered from the antics and whims of a famous dancer, but humbly endured them, being endlessly in love. Others argue that he was an incredible dictator, did not spare the ballerina's health and strength, and being not only a life partner, but also Pavlova's impresario, arranged incredible tours in terms of load - it happened that concerts followed one after another every day without days off for months! What really happened, who was the culprit of such a grueling tour schedule: the ballerina herself or her merciless companion, we seem to no longer know.
Anna Pavlova died in Holland, during a tour, on January 23, 1931, from acute pleurisy: on the way from France, she caught a bad cold and also received a significant chest bruise. Doctors recommended an immediate operation, but for some reason the operation was postponed, and on January 19, Anna Pavlova gave her last concert in The Hague, being very weak. Who was the initiator of the cancellation of the operation - the ballerina herself or her companion Victor, remained unknown.
“An artist must know all about love and learn to live without it.”
Anna Pavlova
She was called "Divine" and "Delightful". She was said to be the "White Swan" and even the "Swan Fairy". One girl wrote to her parents: “Remember, you said: the one who sees the fairy will be happy all his life. I saw a live fairy – her name is Anna Pavlova.”
Brilliant Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova became a legend during her lifetime. Journalists competed with each other in writing stories about her. She read myths about herself in the papers and laughed. Legends surround her name to this day.
She never spoke about her personal life, in which there was a single man. Her whole life - true, real, known and open to everyone - was in dance. And she managed to die before she left the stage ...
The most famous ballerina of the past century, Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), whose life was completely devoted to ballet, about which there were many rumors and legends, wished to keep everything that did not concern her work a secret. Nothing was known about her personal life. And only after her death did the world learn about the beautiful and tragic love story, the secret of which the legendary ballerina kept in her heart for thirty long years.
Anna Pavlova was born on January 31 (February 12), 1881. Her father died very early, and the girl was raised by her mother. Although they lived in constant poverty, Lyubov Feodorovna, moonlighting as a laundress, tried to brighten up the difficult childhood of "beloved Nyura". On the name day and Christmas, the girl was always waiting for gifts brought by a caring, generous hand, and when Anna turned eight, her mother took her to the Mariinsky Theater for the ballet Sleeping Beauty.
So the future dancer fell in love with this art forever, and two years later the thin and sickly girl was admitted to the ballet department of the St. Petersburg Theater School. Eight years later, Pavlova became the leading actress of the Mariinsky Theatre, and after her stunning success as Nikiya in La Bayadère, she was already called the first soloist of the Mariinsky Theater.
Newspapers wrote about the novice ballerina with delight: “Flexible, musical, with a mimicry full of life and fire, she surpasses everyone with her amazing airiness. When Pavlova plays and dances, there is a special mood in the theater.”
She had admirers, men made dates for her, gave gifts, but Anna rejected everyone, and sent generous gifts back to bewildered suitors. She was proud, sensual and unpredictable. “I am a nun of art. Personal life? This is a theater, theater, theater, ”Pavlova did not get tired of repeating.
However, the girl was lying. It was at that time that an incomprehensible, still unknown feeling flared up in the heart of a young ballerina. Relatives knew that she spent all her free time with the rich, handsome Victor Dandre (1870–1944). The new acquaintance came from an aristocratic family belonging to an old noble family. He held a high post of adviser in the Senate, was well educated, spoke several foreign languages and was seriously interested in art. To patronize an aspiring ballerina, as members of the imperial family did before him, seemed prestigious to Victor.
The young entrepreneur became the patron of the young artist, which, however, was quite fashionable at that time. However, Victor did not even think of marrying her. He rented an apartment for Pavlova, equipped one of the rooms for a dance hall, which was an unaffordable luxury for a young ballerina at that time. Each time, meeting the girl after the performance, Victor presented her with luxurious gifts, drove her to expensive restaurants, invited wealthy, intelligent and famous people to the company, and in the evening brought her to an apartment, where he often remained as the owner until the morning.
But the more she got to know Pavlova's new acquaintance, the more clearly she understood that Dandre did not need her at all, and an unequal marriage with a modest girl was impossible for him. And she left him, preferring loneliness to the humiliating position of a kept woman. “At first I struggled,” Pavlova recalled, “beginning with grief just to revel, wanting to prove something to him!” And then, once again following her motto, she returned to work.
She trained again, toured with the troupe of her favorite theater and danced eight to ten times a week. At that time, another meeting took place in her fate, which changed a lot in the life of a famous dancer. The great choreographer Fokin staged for her to the music of Camille Saint-Saens "The Dying Swan", which forever became the ballerina's crown number and flew around the world. Much later, when the composer met Pavlova, he, delighted with her performance, exclaimed: “Madame, thanks to you, I realized that I wrote amazing music!”
In 1907 the Mariinsky Theater went on tour to Stockholm. It was after these tours in Europe that they first started talking about the brilliant young ballerina, whose performances were such a rapid success that even Emperor Oscar II, admiring Pavlova's talent, handed her the Order of Merit for Art in parting. The enthusiastic crowd greeted the ballerina with a standing ovation. “I was greeted with a whole storm of applause and enthusiastic shouts. I didn’t know what to do,” recalled Anna Pavlova. It was a real triumph. Anna became famous, she had money, she could already afford a lot. The ballerina tried not to remember Victor.
In the meantime, things were not going well for Dandre. Having turned an unsuccessful deal, the entrepreneur owed a huge amount, which he failed to repay in due time. He ended up in prison without finding the large sum of money that was required to post bail and release him during a lengthy trial. Relatives could not raise funds, and rich friends turned their backs on an unfortunate partner. For Dandre began a difficult period of painful waiting behind bars in loneliness and doubt.
And Anna shone already in Paris. Sergei Diaghilev, who opened a Russian ballet theater in the French capital by inviting Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky there, did not miscalculate. They started talking about the Russian theater, people from high society began to visit it, people from all over Europe came to see the Russian ballerina, the theater was invited to Australia and America.
The future seemed so enticing and bright. However, Pavlova unexpectedly left Paris and headed for London. A few months later, Diaghilev learned that his beloved soloist had signed a contract with the famous Braff theater agency, under which she had to dance twice a day in three countries - England, Scotland, Ireland. For this, the dancer received an advance payment - an impressive amount for those times.
She immediately sent the collected money to Russia to release Viktor from prison. A few days later, in 1911, he left St. Petersburg and went abroad. “In Paris, I decided that I couldn’t live without Dandre. I immediately called him to my place, ”Pavlova recalled. - We got married in a church, under a secret. He's mine, only mine, and I adore him."
With Victor Dandre
Their marriage remained a secret for many years. Victor kept his promise given on the wedding day to Anna. He swore to keep silent about their union. The former patron responded to generosity with a strong feeling that flared up in his heart so as not to fade away until the last days.
When the contract came to an end, Anna decided to organize her own theater and recruited a troupe of artists. So the former prima of the Mariinsky Theater became the mistress of a small theater. In the same year, she bought a luxurious mansion near London, on the shores of a clean lake, where white swans swam and exotic plants grew around, brought by a ballerina from different parts of the world. It seemed that the fate of the spouses did not depend on anyone else.
Pavlova in his mansion in London
Victor took care of all household chores, the duties of an accountant and a manager. He answered correspondence, conducted business and personal negotiations, organized tours, oversaw costumes and scenery, hired and fired actors. However, Pavlova increasingly expressed displeasure. She reproached her husband, scandalized, shouted, broke dishes and cried.
After long tantrums and tears, the ballerina's spouses reconciled, and it seemed that nothing threatened their family idyll again. Again, Victor solved all his wife's problems, and Anna ran around the house and theatrically shouted to the maid: “Who dared to clean his shoes? Who in my house dares to make tea for him? It's my business!"
However, the emotional and temperamental Pavlova could immediately change her mood and rush at Victor with new insults. Friends who often witnessed these quarrels later asked Dandre how he could endure all this and why he did not leave Anna. He was silent. Apparently, he had his own reasons for this, known only to the two of them.
He idolized her, thanking her for her generosity and generosity. She could not forget him a long-standing offense inflicted in his youth. Whether she forgave him - we are unlikely to ever know. But there was no doubt about the sincerity of Victor Dandre's feelings. When his wife died on January 23, 1931 from pneumonia, just a few days before her fiftieth birthday, Victor, broken by grief, could not return to normal life for a long time.
He did not want to believe that Pavlova was no more. Having created a club of fans of his famous wife, Victor Dandre wanted only one thing - that the great ballerina of the 20th century would be remembered for many years. Unfortunately, the club did not manage to exist for a long time. Nevertheless, the name of the Russian ballerina, the legendary Anna Pavlova, entered the history of world ballet forever.
Anna Pavlova is a great ballerina, a symbol of the era, a creative person, without whom Russian ballet would never have gained numerous fans around the world. This fragile woman sacrificed everything for the love of art, and her charity work saved many lives.
In her honor, the Dutch bred a beautiful variety of dazzling white tulips, and the Australians created a delicious dessert called "Anna Pavlova"; Pavlova became the muse of the famous sculptor, the inspirer of many generations of dancers. She was able to absorb the culture of other countries and embody it through her dance, without deviating from the canons of classical ballet. Ballerinas with such a wide range are a real treasure of the world dance art.
The childhood of the great prima
Despite her fame, Anna Pavlova did not like to talk about herself, believing that her personal life should remain a secret to others. The ballerina tried not to give interviews, she lived rather closed, considering only ballet to be the meaning of her life. The most famous book about her will be written by her unofficial husband Victor Dandre - “Anna Pavlova. Biography”, where he will reveal the nobility of the soul and self-sacrifice of the great prima of Russian ballet.
The exact date of Anna Pavlova's birth is unknown - according to the church record book, it was February 12, 1881, and birth records contain the date January 31 of the same year. There is also no certainty with the ballerina's patronymic: according to some sources, she was Lazarevna, according to others - Matveevna. Anna Pavlova's mother was Lyubov Fedorovna Pavlova, an incredibly beautiful, intelligent woman who served as a laundress for the wealthy banker Lazar Polyakov.
Anya was born a weak, premature girl, she was often sick, and therefore was incredibly pale and thin. In her childhood memories, Anna Pavlova says that she and her mother lived extremely poorly, but she always found a way to please her beloved daughter. Once, when the ballerina was eight years old, she and her mother went to the Mariinsky Theater for a wonderful performance of The Sleeping Beauty. The action taking place on the stage fascinated Pavlova so much that she decided to become a dancer by all means, to link her life with ballet forever.
When the mother brought young Anna to the ballet school, the director resolutely announced that he would accept the girl only when she was ten years old. According to the ballerina's recollections, this waiting time became a real test for her: the dream of being on stage and dancing like a fairy fairy did not leave her for a minute.
The poor health of the ballerina made itself felt not in the best way, but the fighting character did not allow Anna to give up and refuse to dance. In 1898, a graduation concert took place, at which the ballerina danced with inspiration in the ballet "Imaginary Dryads" the part of the butler's daughter.
The examiners were fascinated by the unusualness, the accuracy of her movements, the ability to express her individuality within the framework of the classical approach. Having mastered the classical technique of ballet dance, Pavlova received a diploma with the title of the best dancer at the end of the school, and then she was enrolled as a full-time ballerina at the Mariinsky Theater.
Prima's creative path
The debut on the big stage took place in the ballet "Vain Precaution", where Pavlova danced along with two other ballerinas. Anna Pavlova was wonderfully built: long arms and legs, high rise, incredible fragility of the ballerina fascinated, delighted fans, and her mastery of steps on stage made even the most demanding connoisseurs of ballet freeze.
Anna Pavlova, who had no patronage, had to achieve everything herself, to make her way to the stage with her own perseverance and skill. And in 1900, she was trusted to perform the part of Flora in Flora Awakening, where the famous choreographer Fokin became her partner. The ballet was a resounding success, and offers to perform leading female roles followed one after another:
- Pavlova danced the part of Nikiya ("La Bayadère") in such a way that the fate of the heroine acquired a special tragedy and meaning.
- Anna's Giselle was so good that the audience gave her a standing ovation.
- Paquita, performed by Pavlova, made this ballet a world heritage.
- Kitri became one of the most successful dance parts for a ballerina, thanks to this role Pavlova was named the first ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater.
In 1908, the ballerina's touring activity begins, recalling which she noted that the public received their troupe extremely favorably, showered them with applause and flowers. Anna Pavlova performed the main role in the ballet Swan Lake, making an unprecedented sensation, and then in Paris the ballerina joined the Diaghilev troupe and danced the ballet La Sylphide.
However, Pavlova did not stay long in the Russian Seasons, the ballerina's soul demanded creative freedom, and around 1910 the prima founded her troupe. A new stage in the life of the ballerina began and cooperation with Fokin, who staged the play "The Daughters of the Mountain King" for her.
Financial disagreements with the leadership of the Mariinsky Theater led to the termination of the contract with the ballerina, but in 1914, after lengthy persuasion, Pavlov returned to Russia and delighted the audience with his performances. After leaving abroad, Pavlova will never return home, but after the revolution, the prima did not remain indifferent to the troubles of her homeland: she sent charitable parcels, donated significant amounts to help those in need, financially helped the ballet school in St. Petersburg.
Prima's last years
Anna Pavlova's personal life was rich, but men were never the meaning of her life. It is known for certain about four of her novels, but officially Pavlova was never married and had no children.
Pavlova's chosen one was a certain Victor Dandre, a mining engineer who occupied a much higher position in society than hers, and therefore did not think about marrying a simple bourgeois. When the authorities accused him of embezzling a huge amount and put him under arrest, Pavlova, having learned about this, sent the fee for the performance to save her lover.
In 1931, the great ballerina arrived on tour in the Netherlands, but Pavlova caught a cold on the train, and besides, a wardrobe trunk fell on her on the way and hit her ribs hard. Pavlova did not tell anyone about the injury, however, upon arriving at the hotel, she felt overwhelmed and lost consciousness.
Queen Wilhemina immediately sent her personal doctor to her, and he made a disappointing diagnosis - pleurisy. Another doctor, who arrived from Paris, found her unconscious and tried to save her by draining her lungs, but on January 21, 1931, the ballerina dies, just a couple of days before her fiftieth birthday. Author: Natalia Ivanova
A fragile girl who was not wanted to be taken to a ballet school, Anna Pavlova in her time - and, perhaps, today - is the most famous ballerina in the world. Pavlova was the first dancer to organize world ballet tours. Her image has become synonymous with Russian ballet of the 20th century. And the most famous role in the prima's repertoire was the sensual 130-second miniature "The Dying Swan" to the music of Camille Saint-Saens.
was born on February 12, 1881 in the village of Ligovo near St. Petersburg. Despite the fact that the mother of the future ballerina, Lyubov Fedorovna, raised Anna on her own and did not have sufficient funds, she still tried to please her daughter as much as possible. And then one day, when Anna was 8 years old, her mother took her to the Mariinsky Theater for the ballet Sleeping Beauty. The girl, who had an innate subtle sense of beauty, instantly fell in love with the art of ballet and realized that she wanted to become a ballerina.
Lyubov Fedorovna supported her daughter's desire, but Anna was too young to enter the ballet department of the St. Petersburg Theater School, so she was accepted there only two years later. And at first, she did not inspire much hope for many teachers, as she was too fragile, which gave her a sickly look. But she lived in ballet and did everything possible to achieve perfection.
During her studies, Anna differed from other students with her slender body and long legs. Today, such a figure would only play into the hands of a modern ballerina, but in Pavlova's time, classical dancers were small and had a more compact body. Despite her innate talent, classical ballet was difficult for Pavlova, as she had weak ankles and very inflexible legs. In the end, she solved this problem by adding a piece of hard wood to the sole for durability. This helped her get on pointe shoes, as it reduced pain.
Nikolay Legat and Anna Pavlova
At the age of 18 she graduated from a ballet school, and was accepted into the corps de ballet of the Mariinsky Theater. Soon more responsible parties began to trust her. Pavlova danced in such classical ballets as The Nutcracker, The Little Humpbacked Horse, Raymonda, La Bayadère and Giselle. And after 7 years of work at the Mariinsky in 1906, she became the leading ballerina of the theater.
Had a huge impact on Anna Pavlova founder of the romantic ballet Mikhail Fokin. She danced in his ballets "Chopiniana", "Pavilion of Armida" and "Egyptian Nights". But their main joint work was the choreographic miniature The Dying Swan, first presented in 1907 at a charity evening at the Mariinsky Theatre.
This image was born from Fokine and Pavlova literally out of thin air. Mikhail Fokin invented for Anna a concert number to the music of Saint-Saens in just a few minutes, improvising with her. Thus was born the image of a swan floating smoothly on the water. Subsequently, this role became a symbol of the Russian ballet of the twentieth century.
« Pavlova is a cloud hovering above the earth, Pavlova- this is a flame, flashing and fading, this is an autumn leaf, driven by a gust of icy wind ... ", - wrote one of the critics.
Choreography by Mikhail Fokin, music by Saint-Saens and performance Anna Pavlova created a role filled with the agony of the last flight of a swan. The audience was captivated by gentle movements Pavlova and a tense expression on her face when the ballerina tried to convey in the dance all the fragility of life. It was the role of "The Dying Swan" that became the crown in the repertoire Pavlova and made her famous all over the world.
Anna Pavlova's only entry
Glory Pavlova grew. In 1909, the ballerina took part in the Russian Season campaign by Sergei Diaghilev in Paris, after which she became his symbol, and about Anna Pavlova known to the whole world. A year later, the ballerina created her own troupe and went on a tour of the main cities of Europe, including Berlin, Copenhagen and Prague. For 20 years she toured all over the world, also covering the UK and the USA. She especially loved Australia, which she visited quite often, influencing the Australian dance culture in many ways. Exactly Pavlova inspired Frederick Ashton, who later became a dancer and principal choreographer at the Royal Ballet School in London.
“Flexible, graceful, musical, with a full of life and fire facial expressions, she surpasses everyone with her amazing airiness. How quickly and magnificently this bright, versatile talent flourished, ”the press spoke of the ballerina in this way.
In 1912, she bought the Ivy House in London, where she spent her few vacations. She was very fond of animals and birds, so there were many of them in her estate. Two beautiful white swans were especially pleasing to the eye of the ballerina. Last performance Anna Pavlova Petersburg took place in 1913, after which the ballerina never returned to Russia.
Talent is a gift, and hard work is a choice. she knew this very well, and if one half of her life was spent under the bright lights of the stage, then the other half was behind the stage, in daily training near the barre. She knew that without self-cultivation, she would never become a great ballerina. “I owe my success to continuous work and my worthy teachers,” she wrote in the book “Pages of My Life”. Thanks to relentless exhausting workouts, a great ballerina was born, eclipsing the entire dance world.
In 1983 about life Anna Pavlova A five-part TV movie directed by Emil Loteanu was filmed. The plot of this picture covers the life of a ballerina from the moment she first met ballet until the last day of her life.
Galina Belyaeva as Anna Pavlova
Exhausted by tours and the constant stress of performances, she died on January 23, 1931 in The Hague from pneumonia. The ballerina was 49 years old. According to the legend, her last words before her death were addressed to her dresser: “Prepare my swan costume!”.
Unlike many other ballerinas, she did not leave behind an heiress. And this is not because the prima did not want to share her skills with anyone, on the contrary, she even had her own ballet school in England, and she always devoted all her free time and love to her students. Simply, as critic Andrei Levinson said: "Her art was born and died with her - to dance like Pavlova, you had to be Pavlova."
She was the very Soul of the Dance.
With your favorite tame swan
There is a lot of information about the ballerina Anna Pavlova on the Internet. Her biography is woven from legends. And it's hard to find the truth. But maybe not? After all, Anna Pavlova herself is the personification of a legend. I want to dwell a little on the biography of Anna Pavlova and show a lot of photos of the ballerina. And not just photos
Anna Pavlova - biography
Anna Pavlova, the future ballerina, was born in the winter of January 31, 1881 in the northern capital of Russia. As a girl, Anya knew that she would dance. In her autobiography, she recalls that, despite poverty, her mother tried to pamper her daughter on holidays. And one day, when Nyura was 8 years old, her mother went with her to the Mariinsky Theater. From the very first sounds of the orchestra, the girl was captured by beauty, and after the performance she announced that she would dance like the “sleeping beauty” herself from the ballet.
The beginning of the creative path of Anna Pavlova
For two years she was not accepted into the Imperial Ballet School (she did not grow up), but at the age of 10 she fulfilled her dream. Few people could withstand the harsh charter of the school, iron discipline, but Anna was the best student. Hardworking and persistent. After graduation, the girl got to the Mariinsky. Ballet lovers admired her dance. A thin ankle, a high instep, a fragile physique - all this distinguished her from other ballerinas.
There have never been such “airy” ballerinas in the history of ballet. This fragility and unusualness allowed her to bypass the corps de ballet (all graduates started with it) and even get minor solo parts. Laudatory speeches and comparisons were heard in the press: “Flame and ashes”, “Enchanting tenderness and grace”, “This is sparkling champagne and heady air”, “Pavlova seemed to have fluttered from engravings of the 19th century” ...
"The Dying Swan" by Anna Pavlova
A great creative friendship connected the ballerina and Mikhail Mikhailovich Fokin. Mikhail Fokin is considered the founder of romantic ballet. He created a completely new kind of performance: a dramatic one-act ballet. His "Swan", this dance about the fragility of happiness, has become the ballerina's hallmark. The dance was born very quickly - a few minutes before the charity concert. In the original idea, the ballerina simply floated serenely around the stage. Her talking hands were mesmerizing.
But then Anna blew up these 130 seconds of dance, coloring it with the tragedy of death. The flutter of wings - hands made an indelible impression on everyone. The ballerina attached a ruby brooch to her chest as a symbol of the wound, and this dance became known as the "Dying Swan".
Saint-Saens, after watching the performance, confessed to Anna: “It was after I saw you in The Swan that I realized that I composed very beautiful music”
Anna Pavlova Video “The Dying Swan”
Another well-known performance, created by M. Fokin specifically for Anna Pavlova, is a stylization in the spirit of an amazing revived engraving of romanticism. The ballerina danced in this ballet with Vaslav Nijinsky. Her soaring jump, her full devotion to the dance, amazing improvisations on the move made this performance unforgettable.
Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova
Only five graduates of that time received the title of "ballerina" and Anna was one of them. The highest spirituality and amazing plasticity made her a great world-class ballerina. Each dance was unique, since the ballerina could never repeat all those “pas” that were impulsively born to her.
Anna Pavlova has been touring abroad since 1908. She gained world fame in Paris, becoming the main participant and favorite of the public in all of Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Seasons. The dancer of the Diaghilev troupe, the famous Sergei Lifar, recalled that he “saw a revelation of the sky ...”, “never in my life I saw anything like that not human, but divine beauty and lightness, completely weightless airiness and grace ...”
It was said that everything the ballerina touched took on the features of sophistication.
Anna Pavlova very soon wanted a free flight and in 1909 she independently staged the play. This performance was "Night" by Rubinstein. A monologue about passion, about crazy love, the audience met with a standing ovation. In 1910, the ballerina left the Mariinsky Theater and created her own troupe. In addition to her performances, she included the ballets of Glazunov and Tchaikovsky in her repertoire. The tour was a triumph. She set herself the goal of making the whole world aware of Russian ballet, which is probably why the ballerina found herself in such corners of the world where “a foot in pointe shoes” had never set foot before.
Portrait of Anna Pavlova as a Muse. V. Stemberg, 1909
In India, they knelt before her and showered them with lotus petals, considering her the deity of dance (after all, she made even elephants do “pa”)
The Mexicans threw a sombrero at her feet as a sign of admiration, in Australia they came up with a luxurious dessert Pavlova cake, the monarch of Spain himself sent bouquets to her, in Holland they brought out the most delicate white tulips and called the variety "Anna Pavlova". It was the troupe of Anna Pavlova who showed the Russian ballet to the world
In her dance there was the fire of life, awe, grace and inspiration. She lived in dance.
The character of the ballerina
The character of the ballerina was very difficult. There are many rumors, sometimes contradictory… Some say that she was utterly capricious and exalted, her emotions overflowed, she could bring conductors to a nervous breakdown, stomp their feet, get angry at partners and keep the entire troupe in a tight grip.
Others claimed that she was attentive and kind, she took care of all the members of her troupe and personally could apply iodine mesh to the legs of the dancers. But the troupe adored her and touchingly guarded her like a beloved child.
Anna Pavlova and Victor Dandre
Anna Pavlova went through life with Victor Dandre, a descendant of an old French family. He was distinguished by endurance, composure, but most importantly, a great love for the ballerina, he could withstand any whims of his beloved. But the life of lovers was still stormy. They quarreled, reconciled, parted. In 1910, Dandre fled St. Petersburg, as he was accused of embezzlement. Anna helped to rescue him and facilitated his escape abroad, from there he never returned to Russia. She paid a huge amount. Perhaps that is also why she did not spare herself, the contracts were enslaving, the tour was endless and intense. For 22 years of constant touring, the ballerina gave almost 9 thousand performances. Sometimes in a year she lacked two thousand pairs of pointe shoes, which were made for her by an Italian master.
After her death, Victor Dandre wrote a book, the lines of which are full of tenderness and pain from the loss of a loved one. Anna's mood swings, he explained her strong emotional stress and forgave her everything.
Victor Dandre was a famous impresario of his time. He organized real photo shoots of the ballerina. In the vicinity of London, an ivy-covered house was bought with a lake and, of course, with swans,
here Anna often posed for magazines.
The ballerina was very fond of animals,
her pet dogs were constantly with her even on tour,
and her favorite bird slept on her chest under a duvet.
Anna, even on tour, chose a house surrounded by a garden, and loved to take care of the flowers.
by © Bettmann/CORBIS
Anna Pavlova was able to create ephemeral creatures on stage that could float in the air.
She gave her whole soul to dance. It was unusual and amazing.
She could go on stage completely ill, with a temperature, and once she went out with a broken leg. And she danced at full strength, according to eyewitnesses. Art, she believed, is only beautiful and the viewer should not see a mortal person on stage with his problems. She forgot herself in the dance.
During the tour, Pavlova caught a cold and fell ill with pleurisy. The ballerina refused the operation, because she had a performance ahead of her. The disease turned out to be fatal. On the night of January 23, 1931, 7 days before her fiftieth birthday, the ballerina left. According to a beautiful legend, her last words were "Prepare my Swan costume." She was preparing for the next stage appearance ...
Quotes by Anna Pavlova
“For a wife, a husband, like for a dance, is music.”
A real actor must know everything about love, and if necessary, be able to live without it.
A true actress must be able to sacrifice herself to art.
She, like a nun, has no right to live like this,
how most women want to lead their lives.
When I was a child and walking among the pines, I thought happiness was success. How wrong I was!
Happiness is a small moth that enchants for just a moment and immediately flies away.
Success does not consist in the applause of the hall, but in that joyful satisfaction,
which you experience as you approach perfection.
