Ballerina Nadezhda Pavlova: biography, repertoire, personal life. Anna Pavlova is an amazing ballerina - history in photos

Contemporaries said that, looking at her, they saw not dancing, but the embodiment of their dream of dancing. And for her, the dance was everything - both a reality, and a dream, and life, and what awaits beyond life. Her last words were: “Prepare my Swan costume…”

Anna Pavlova was born on January 31 (February 12), 1881 in St. Petersburg, in the family of a soldier and a laundress. At the age of five, Pavlova saw the Sleeping Beauty ballet at the Mariinsky Theater, which sealed her fate. In 1891 she entered the ballet department of the St. Petersburg Theater School, where she studied with E.O. Vazem, P.A. Gerdt.

This is how he remembers her school years Tamara Karsavina in the book "Theater Street":

“Lacking sufficient insight, we admired only the virtuosity of the dance, our ideal was the strong stocky figure of Legnani. And Pavlova herself then hardly realized that in her fragility and some limited technical capabilities just lurked great power her unique and charming personality. Romanticism went out of fashion at that time. Even the very figure of the dancers, compared with the silhouettes of those who danced half a century ago, clearly demonstrated the change in the tastes of the public, which had cooled to airy visions and now admired more earthly delights.

Thinness was considered the enemy of beauty, and everyone agreed that Anna Pavlova needed enhanced nutrition. She apparently was of the same opinion, since she conscientiously swallowed fish oil, which our doctor considered a panacea for all evils, but we all hated it. Like all of us, she tried to emulate our ideal of virtuosity, Legnani. Fortunately for Pavlova, Gerdt was able to recognize the essence of her talent. It pained him to see his fragile student trying to do what was easy for a muscular Italian dancer. He advised her not to pursue effects that endangered her fragile body.

During the debut, Pavlova was very worried because of her "flaws". But she was destined to bring back to our stage the forgotten charm of the romantic ballets of the Taglioni era.”

In 1899, after graduating from college, Anna Pavlova was accepted into the corps de ballet troupe of the Imperial Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre.

Tall, slender, with elongated arms and legs with a high rise, in her youth she did not possess virtuoso technique, did not have a “steel toe”. Subsequently, in order to perform parts created by M.I. Petipa for Italian virtuosi, Pavlova studied privately with Enrico Cecchetti in St. Petersburg and with the chief teacher of the La Scala school in Milan, Catarina Beretta.

Already on September 19, 1899, Pavlova made her debut in a small role in "Vain Precaution", followed by roles in " Magic flute and in La Bayadère. In 1903, she was entrusted with the role of Giselle, and the young ballerina amazed everyone with the depth of the psychological interpretation of the image and the beauty of the dance. Following this success, Pavlova received the main roles in Naiad and the Fisherman, Paquita, Corsair, Don Quixote. At the same time, the airy, resembling Pavlova's sylph, thanks to her natural temperament, danced the Spanish and demi-character parts of the classical repertoire with great success (the street dancer in Don Quixote, the panaderos in Raymond).

In 1906, Anna Pavlova became a ballerina on the Imperial Stage. Working with Mikhail Fokin opened up a new repertoire for her. The individuality of the ballerina, the style of her dance, the soaring jump in 1907 led Fokine to the idea of ​​reviving the romantic ballet. This is how "Chopiniana" appeared - a subtle stylization in the spirit of the elegant engraving of the Taglioni era that came to life. In Chopiniana, Pavlova danced the mazurka and the Seventh Waltz with Vaslav Nijinsky.

Her flying arabesque went down in history - the artist Valentin Serov immortalized it on a poster for the "Russian Seasons" in Paris in 1909.

In 1907, Pavlova danced with the Fokine troupe in Moscow, and this brought her all-Russian fame. It was after these tours that, as a retribution for a monetary debt, Fokin staged The Dying Swan for Pavlova, which became her undoubted artistic success. The collaboration between Fokin and Pavlova turned out to be fruitful - she danced in his “Pavilion of Armida”, in “Egyptian Nights”. Not thinking about innovation and overthrow of the aesthetics of the past, with her appearance, her manner of dancing, she reformed ballet, changed the attitude towards it all over the world.

On May 8, 1908, in Helsingfors, Pavlova danced Teresa in Cavalry Halt, then the tour continued in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Prague, in German cities and ended in Berlin. This year should be considered the beginning of her international recognition. In May 1909, on tour with the artists of the Mariinsky Theater in Berlin, she danced Giselle with Nikolai Legat.

It was natural for Pavlova to try to stage it herself. She made such an attempt in 1909 at a performance at the Suvorinsky Theater in honor of the 75th anniversary of the owner, A. Suvorin. For her debut, Pavlova chose "Night" by Rubinstein. She appeared in a white long tunic with flowers in her hands and hair. Pathetics was justified by the naive sincerity of feeling. The free movement of the body and arms gave the impression of improvisation, recalling Duncan's influence. But also classical dance, including finger technique, was present, complementing the expressive gestures. Pavlova's independent work was met with approval. The following numbers were "Dragonfly" by F. Kreisler, "Butterfly" by R. Drigo, "California Poppy".

For Diaghilev, the participation of Anna Pavlova in his enterprise meant a guarantee of success. Despite the fact that her stay with Diaghilev was very short, in everything civilized world Diaghilev's ballet is still associated with the names of Pavlova and Nijinsky.

But she did not like much in Diaghilev's entreprise. Pavlova often said that the beauty of the dance meant everything to her, and the ugliness meant nothing, and categorically rejected what seemed to her ugly. This list included both the plastic elements of the new choreography and Stravinsky's music in The Firebird, which seemed to her not melodic enough. Pavlova, the great ballerina of the classical style, did not accept the aesthetics of those innovative choreographers who, following Fokine, came to Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and revolutionized the world of dance.

In 1910 in London, she organized her own ballet troupe to stage the classics, and with her went on a round-the-world ballet tour. The debut in New York took place on February 16, 1910. It was followed by concerts in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore.

Anna Pavlova's companion during this tour was Mikhail Mordkin, the famous soloist Bolshoi Theater, "Hercules ballet scene”, later - the founder of the American Ballet. He danced with Pavlova in 1910-1911, after the ballerina left Diaghilev. Their stage union gradually grew into love story. However, he was unsuccessful both personally and in creative plan. The story ended with a scandalous break.

In August 1911, Pavlova briefly returned to her homeland. Now it was "Russian tour" for her. Having danced La Bayadère and Giselle at the Mariinsky Theatre, she left for London, where Diaghilev was with his entreprise. Pavlova replaced Karsavina in Giselle and danced with Nijinsky: with him she first performed the role of a slave in Cleopatra. And in November 1911 she went on a tour of the cities of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1912, Baron Victor Dandre, who left Russia due to financial troubles, joined Pavlova. The troupe needed a reliable administrator, and Dandre turned out to be just such a person. Some time later, Pavlova married him. Deciding to settle in England, she bought the Ivy House house in one of the districts of London - Hampstead.

First World War found Pavlova in Berlin, where she was briefly detained as a "Russian spy". The ballerina returned to Russia, but war and ballet are incompatible - and she, along with her troupe, went across the ocean and for a long time toured the Northern and South America. The October Revolution in Petrograd took place when she shone in Latin America: Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, La Paz, Quito, Caracas, Costa Rica, Havana… Pavlova was the first Giselle seen by ballet lovers in this hemisphere.

For 22 years of endless tours, Pavlova traveled more than half a million kilometers by train, according to rough estimates, she gave about 9 thousand performances. It was really hard work. There was a period when the Italian master Ninolini produced for Anna Pavlova an average of two thousand pairs of ballet shoes a year, and they were barely enough for her.

But, with all her devotion to the art of ballet, Anna Pavlova loved the world of fashion, willingly photographed and even posed in the furs of famous fashion houses in Berlin and Paris in the 1910s and 1920s. In England, she advertised shoes for the shoe company H. & M. Rayne ", which she wore, according to her, both on stage and in life. The “a la Pavlova” clothing style became so popular that it brought the Pavlova atlas, released in 1921, to the fashion world. It was Pavlova who introduced the fashion for Spanish-draped embroidered Manila shawls with tassels, which she knew how to wear so gracefully.

In January 1931, the train in which Pavlova was returning to Paris from the Cote d'Azur of France crashed near Dijon. The prima itself was not hurt, although the fallen wardrobe trunk hit her hard on the ribs. But on a cold winter morning, in pajamas and a light coat, she had to walk to the nearest station and wait there for twelve hours for the next train. Pavlova caught a cold, which then turned into severe pleurisy. In this state, she went on tour to Holland. Shortly before her departure, already quite ill, she came to study at the Parisian studio of Vera Trefilova. There she felt a strong fever and yet decided not to cancel the tour.

January 17, 1931 famous ballerina arrived on tour in the Netherlands, where she was well known and loved. In honor of the "Russian Swan", the Dutch bred a special variety of snow-white tulips and called them "Anna Pavlova".

In the program of Pavlova's ballet performance, published in Holland two days before her death, the name of the ballerina did not appear among the performers. She no longer left her lilac hotel suite. Meanwhile, the troupe continued to prepare for tours in Brussels. But the tour did not take place. unexpected death great ballerina, which came at one in the morning from Thursday to Friday, January 23, 1931 in the Hague "Hotel des Indes", shocked the whole world.

Pavlova's ashes, enclosed in a white marble urn, rest in Golders Green Cemetery, not far from her beloved Ivy House.

D. Truskinovskaya

Anna Pavlova is a great ballerina, a symbol of the era, creative person, without which 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 a muse famous sculptor, the inspiration for 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. most famous book her unofficial husband Victor Dandre will write about her - “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.

Little Anya became the fruit of illegal passion, however, in order to avoid shame, the banker could not officially recognize her, and therefore allowed her daughter to give only her patronymic. Therefore, according to the documents, the father of the ballerina was the husband of Lyubov Fedorovna - a simple soldier Matvey Pavlovich.

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 Mariinskii Opera House to the wonderful performance of "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 memoirs of the ballerina, this waiting time was a real test for her: the dream was to be on stage and dance like magic fairy never left her for a minute.

Soon Anna Pavlova was enrolled in the Imperial Ballet School, where she spent nine years, tirelessly practicing at the limit of her strength for nine hours a day. The difficult regime, more like a monastery, not only did not break the will of the great ballerina, but helped her finally decide on her future profession.

The poor health of the ballerina made itself felt not in the best way, however, the fighting character did not allow Anna to give up and refuse to dance. In 1898 took place graduation concert, on 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 the best dancer, and then 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 " A futile 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.

Ballet became the meaning of her life, but in order to dance the first parties, she had to master the technique of "steel toe". Studying privately with famous choreographers E. Cecchetti and C. Beretta, Pavlova significantly improves her skills, which allows her to bypass the famous Italian ballerinas and get the first roles in Petipa's performances.

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 the other:

• 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 leading 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 soul of the ballerina demanded creative freedom, and around 1910 the prima founded her troupe. Has begun new stage in the life of a ballerina and collaboration with Fokin, who staged the play "The Daughters of the Mountain King" for her.

The psychological fullness and completeness of the roles performed by Pavlova gave the performances new life, as happened, for example, with the dance of the dying swan. On tour, the great ballerina Anna Pavlova traveled all over the world, even visiting many cities in America, where the public received her with admiration and showered her with expensive gifts.

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.

Dandre secretly went abroad without a passport and lived for a long time on the estate of Anna Pavlova in England. In the future, he became the ballerina's impresario and achieved considerable success in this field, organizing performances by her troupe in America and Europe. For Dandre, the personal life of his savior was not a secret, he knew about her romances with dancers, but meekly endured numerous betrayals.

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

“She does not dance, but flies through the air,” wrote the St. Petersburg newspaper Slovo about the greatest ballerina of the last century, Anna Pavlova. Having become a legend during her lifetime, she did an extraordinary amount to spread the fame of Russian ballet around the world.

Pavlova rethought the danced roles, retained the charm of romanticism. Her manner of performance gave a new stage in the history of Russian ballet. classical ballet, almost perished, acquires modernity, which is why eternal value. Her interpretation of Giselle, Nikiya, Odette, different from other dancers, was adopted by subsequent generations. Therefore, it was on the Russian stage that the undying, eternal that was inherent in Anna Pavlovna Pavlova was preserved. On her birthday, we propose to consider some unusual facts from the biography of the great ballerina.

Ballet charm

It seems that Anna Pavlova has always danced. She seemed to be born, already fascinated by ballet. But real love she came to ballet only after seeing the morning performance of Sleeping Beauty at the age of nine. Interestingly, this was the premiere of a performance staged by Petipa. Ballet produced so much strong impression to Pavlova that, naturally shy and gentle, she for the first time expressed her firm will to choose a career as a ballet dancer. You can imagine how many girls who also came to the performance said: “When I grow up, I will dance like Princess Aurora!” And only one will keep her word.

Anna Pavlova's shoes

It was difficult for Anna Pavlovna to pick up ordinary shoes. Therefore, she always carried with her a suitcase for 36 pairs, which was periodically replenished with new ones. Old shoes were given away.

The same problem was with ballet shoes. Anna Pavlova preferred to order it from a famous Italian master Romeo Nicolini. The ballerina was very attentive to ballet shoes, because its quality and convenience depended on how successful this or that pirouette would be. Therefore, shoes often had to be redone. Once Nicolini even said: “Yes, it is a great honor that Anna Pavlova is my customer. But if I had two Pavlovs, I would have perished.”

Surprisingly, at the time of Anna Pavlova, pointe shoes did not exist as such. This was due to the fact that the dance technique was somewhat simpler than it is now. Therefore, the form of dance shoes was closer to the ballroom, but, of course, without a heel. They were softer than modern shoes, fine workmanship, distinguished by grace. But this does not mean at all that earlier ballerinas danced on tiptoe. They learned how to hang and balance on their fingertips. To do this, sometimes the toe of a ballet shoe could be stitched for greater stability of the ballerina.

Pavlova and Diaghilev

Many are sure that it was Diaghilev who opened Pavlova to the world. But it's not. Anna Pavlova had already danced in Sweden, Denmark and Germany a year before the appearance of the Russian Seasons. Moreover, it was Pavlova who suggested that Diaghilev include ballet in the opera season (the first Russian Seasons were exclusively operatic). Diaghilev initially did not believe that Europeans, and even more so Parisians, would like Russian ballet. Diaghilev did not agree for a long time, but after the approval of a certain committee, he nevertheless decided to try to include the ballet in the Seasons. It is worth noting that at that time the condition for showing Russian ballet in Paris was the arrival of Anna Pavlova as part of the Diaghilev troupe.

Pavlova and Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin was a big fan of Anna Pavlova. “We are like you, Anna! Chaplin once said. - I am a vagabond, you are a sylph. Who needs us? Here we are being chased ... ".

They first met at a banquet in honor of Anna Pavlova. Chaplin, addressing the dancer, said that English language cannot convey the feelings that he feels for her, and express the greatness that Pavlova is. So he intends to speak Chinese. With these words, Chaplin, imitating Chinese speech, went into a rage, kissed Pavlova's hand. And so their friendship began. Later, Charlie Chaplin acted as a consultant to Anna Pavlova when recording her numbers on film.

Charity of Anna Pavlova

During the First World War, wherever Anna Pavlova came, performances were staged in favor of the Red Cross. At the end of the war, she gave concerts at the Metropolitan Opera and sent parcels with food to the Petersburg and Moscow School. Later, she began to send money to Russia to distribute to the needier artists of the St. Petersburg and Moscow troupes.

In Paris, Anna Pavlova decided to set up an orphanage for Russian children. As a result, she organized a women's shelter in Saint-Cloud. Now most of The money from the performances went to the orphanage needs. Anna Pavlova was concerned not only with the fact that the girls had a shelter, but also received an education, practical preparation for life, and after leaving the orphanage, a job. All the girls studied either in a Russian gymnasium or in French colleges. Each Pavlova provided the freedom to choose a specialty.

Portrait of Anna Pavlova

Many mistakenly think that Anna Pavlova, in her famous Dying Swan number, was inspired by the grace of her swan. This is not so, because the number was set long before the appearance of her pet. And initially the dance was simply called “Swan”, and only a few years later the epithet “dying” appeared.

An unusually deserted scene. No corps de ballet, scenery. There is no orchestra. There are no opening variation chords. Mercilessly sharp, concert light flashes. The dancer stands in the far corner of the stage, her head bowed, her arms crossed. After one measure of the introduction of the harp, with the first sound of the cello, she rises on her fingers and silently and sadly floats across the stage.

Fokin put the theme of lyrical peace into the number. The dance itself was the music. It was a monologue. And let the Swan still die at the end, but his death was peaceful.

But the appearance of the Swan changes with the advent of war and revolutions. Anna Pavlova, penetrating into souls with her dance, as if absorbing their response. Gradually, Lebed's lyricism was stained with tragedy. The meaning of the movements changed. The tread of the legs became more tense, the turns of the head and body became more pronounced. The wing-arms rose, fell, and suddenly clung to the chest, where a ruby ​​was now burning bloody in white plumage. The face was bowed to the chest.

Ksenia Timoshkina

Russian ballerina, teacher, stage director Anna Pavlovna (according to other sources, Matveevna) Pavlova was born on February 12 (January 31 according to the old style), 1881 in St. Petersburg in the family of a soldier and a laundress. According to some sources, she was illegitimate daughter Jewish banker.

In 1891 she entered the ballet department of the St. Petersburg Theater School (now the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet), where she studied with Ekaterina Vazem and Pavel Gerdt.

In 1899, after graduating from the Pavlova College, she was accepted into the corps de ballet troupe of the Imperial Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre.

She made her debut in a small role in the ballet "Vain Precaution", then in "La Bayadère" by Ludwig Minkus. In 1903, she was entrusted with the role of Giselle in the ballet of the same name by Adolphe Adam, where the young ballerina was able to amaze the audience with the depth of the psychological interpretation of the image and the beauty of the dance. Following this success, Pavlova received the main roles in Caesar Pugni's "Naiad and the Fisherman", Edouard Deldevez's "Paquita", Adana's "Corsair", Ludwig Minkus's "Don Quixote".

In 1906, Anna Pavlova became a ballerina on the Imperial Stage.

The individuality of the ballerina, the style of her dance, the soaring jump prompted her partner, the future famous choreographer Mikhail Fokin, to create Chopiniana (1907) to the music of Fryderyk Chopin - a stylization in the spirit of the engraving of the Romantic era that came to life. In this ballet she danced the Mazurka and the Seventh Waltz with Vaslav Nijinsky. The artist Valentin Serov immortalized Pavlova's flying arabesque on a poster for the first "Russian Seasons" in Paris (1909).

All-Russian fame was brought to the ballerina by a tour with the Fokine troupe in Moscow in 1907. For her, Fokine staged a concert (later "The Dying Swan") to the music of Camille Saint-Saens, which later became poetic symbol Russian choreography and the ballerina herself.

Pavlova also in 1907 danced Fokine's productions of The Pavilions of Armida to music by Nikolai Tcherepnin and Egyptian Nights to music by Anton Arensky.

On January 23, 1931, Anna Pavlova died in The Hague (Netherlands). Her ashes were buried at Golders Green Cemetery near her Ivy House in London.

For a long time, Anna Pavlova had a personal relationship with the mining engineer Viktor Dandre, who in 1910 was accused by the authorities of St. Petersburg of embezzlement of funds allocated for the construction of the Okhtinsky bridge. Anna Pavlova had to pay bail to be released from prison. Despite a written undertaking not to leave, Dandre fled Russia and lived without a passport for many years. Abroad, Dandre became an impresario and administrator of a ballerina troupe. In 1932, Dandre's book "Anna Pavlova. Life and Legend" was published in London.

The ballerina is dedicated to artistic and documentaries"Anna Pavlova" (1983 and 1985). French choreographer Roland Petit staged the ballet "My Pavlova".

At the Ivy House, which currently houses the London Jewish Cultural Center, the hall of the first floor has been turned into a memorial museum of the ballerina. Two monuments to Anna Pavlova have been erected on the territory of Ivy House - one is located by the lake, the other, representing a ballerina in the guise of a dragonfly, is near the terrace of her house.

The prize of the St. Petersburg International Ballet Prize Dance Open - a crystal pointe, created in 1913 by the artist Boris Fredman-Kluzel from the ballerina Anna Pavlova, is one of the respected awards of ballet art.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Greetings to regular and new readers of the site "Ladies-Gentlemen"! We continue to get acquainted with the success stories of world famous people. In the article "Anna Pavlova: biography and personal life of a ballerina" you will learn about interesting facts from the life of a great ballerina.

Anna Pavlova became the founder of classical Russian ballet, she changed the concept of dance in the 20th century. The world-famous dancer showed ballet where the existence of such creativity was not even known.

Biography of the ballerina Anna Pavlova

She was born on February 12 (zodiac -) 1881 in the village of Ligovo near St. Petersburg. The girl was born a premature seven-month-old baby. Thanks to Anna's grandmother, who nursed her for a year, gave her goat's milk to drink - the girl survived. Her immune system was weak, she was often sick, had an unhealthy appearance.

Mystery of origin

Who and who her parents were is still not clearly known. One of the versions tells that the mother was a laundress and served the wealthy banker Lazar Polyakov. It was he who became the father of Anna.

The second version is that mother Lyubov Pavlova met the soldier Matvey Shamash. Karaim seduced Love. In the future, she gave birth to a child from him.

Contemporaries said that Anna looked like Matvey. Her light oriental features were popular in the Art Nouveau era. About Us early age was fond of oriental melodies and dances.

But at the same time, when young Anna expressed a desire to dance, it was Polyakov who paid for her studies at a ballet institution.

Anna Pavlova, at the age of 8, firmly decided and declared to everyone that she would be a ballerina. This desire came to the girl while watching the ballet "Sleeping Beauty". And already at the age of 10 she entered the St. Petersburg Theater School.

It was extremely difficult to study, the lessons lasted 8 hours a day. The strictest diet and discipline, offensive insults to classmates because of her non-standard look for a ballerina.

The girl had long legs and hands, weak ankles. She did not pay all attention to it, she knew her calling in life, she knew that she was a real ballerina. And without dancing it makes no sense to live. She worked fanatically, putting all of herself into her favorite business.

On June 1, 1899, Anna Pavlova was appointed to serve in the directorate of the imperial theaters. The Mariinsky Theater made her feel the joy of the first premiere. But already in the theater it became clear that Anna's movements are not virtuoso, there is no "steel toe".

Purposeful Pavlova did not stop because of her shortcomings. She began taking ballet lessons from Russian and Spanish teachers. Thanks to her perseverance, in 1906 Anna became a real ballerina. She was appointed the main performer of parts in the Spanish and classical repertoire.

For about 10 years, Pavlova served at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, dancing almost the entire repertoire.

Last concert

Mikhail Fokin created a performance especially for Pavlova, which became calling card ballerinas. The Dying Swan is a dance about the impermanence of happiness. Since 1908 she began to give concerts abroad.

Paris gave her worldwide recognition, where she participated in the production of Russian Seasons. In 1909 she staged a personal play.

In 1910, the famous dancer left the Mariinsky Theater and created her own troupe. Fokine staged a couple more ballets for Anna's troupe. The production of "The Seven Daughters of the Mountain King" brought great success.

In 1914 Pavlova gave last concert in Russia, moved to England and never returned to her homeland.

Interesting fact: I adored Pavlova and tried not to miss her performances in St. Petersburg, Paris, New York. They were familiar.

Anna Pavlova: personal life

For a ballerina, personal life has always been in the background. She began a relationship with the financially independent, handsome and educated Victor Dandre. He spoiled her with gifts, endowed her with care, but they could not officially approve the union, because. were from different social classes.

Anna Pavlova and Victor Dandre

Anna left him for Paris, and only when trouble happened to Dandre did they meet again. Victor was arrested for a scam and stripped of his entire fortune. Pavlova released him by paying the required amount. Dandre became her husband and impresario. He loved his wife to the depths of his soul, and in the future, after her death, he would write a book about her.

Last dance

The planned concert in The Hague (Netherlands) did not take place. Anna Pavlovna (Matveevna) Pavlova died in 1931 from pneumonia. She was 49 years old.

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