The great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova was born on February 12, 1881 in St. Petersburg. The girl was illegitimate, her mother worked as a maid for the famous banker Lazar Polyakov, and he is considered the father of the child. The financier himself did not recognize his involvement in her birth, but did not object to the girl being recorded as Anna Lazarevna.
Ani's mother left Polyakov’s house with a baby in her arms and settled in a suburb of St. Petersburg. The girl grew and developed under the supervision of a mother who tried her best to instill in her daughter a love of art.
Creative biography of Anna Pavlova
Once mom took Anna to the Mariinsky Theater. They gave The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. With the first sounds of the orchestra, Anya fell silent. Then she watched the ballet without stopping, holding her breath, her heart trembled with delight, as from a touch of beauty.
In the second act, boys and girls danced a waltz on stage.
- Would you like to dance like that? - asked Anya's mother during the intermission, referring to the dance of the corps de ballet.
“No ... I want to dance like a sleeping beauty did ...” the girl replied.
After visiting a fabulous place called the Mariinsky Theater, Anya began to dream of ballet. All conversations in the house from now on were only on the topic of choreographic art, the girl danced in front of the mirror from morning to night, lay down and got up with the thought of ballet. The hobby did not look childish at all, dancing became a part of her life.
Mother, seeing this, took Anna to the ballet school. At that time, the girl was barely eight years old. Teachers advised to come in two years, while noting the undoubted ability of Ani. In 1891, the future ballerina was admitted to the St. Petersburg School of Theater Arts at the ballet department.
The study was Spartan in nature, everything was subject to strict discipline, classes lasted eight hours a day. But in 1898 Anna graduated from college with honors. The final performance was called “Imaginary Dryads,” in which the girl danced the part of the butler’s daughter.
Anna was immediately accepted into the Mariinsky Theater. Her debut took place in the ballet "Vain Precaution" in the pas de trois (dance of three). Two years later, Anna Pavlova danced the main part in the production of Caesar Pugni’s music “The Pharaoh’s Daughter”. Then, the novice ballet dancer performed in the party of Nikiya in La Bayadere, which was staged by Marius Petipa himself, the patriarch of Russian ballet. In 1903, Pavlova has already starred in the ballet Giselle.
Development
In 1906, Anna was appointed the leading dancer of the Mariinsky Ballet Company. Truly creative work began on the search for new forms. Russian ballet required updating, and Pavlova managed to create several images in the spirit of modernity, working with innovative choreographer Alexander Gorsky, who sought to dramatize the plot and was a staunch supporter of some tragedy in the dance.
Anna Pavlova and Mikhail Fokin
At the beginning of the 20th century, Russian ballet was influenced by reform movements. One of the most ardent supporters of radical changes in ballet art was the choreographer Mikhail Fokin. He abandoned the traditional separation of dance from pantomime. The next goal of the reformer Fokin was to abolish the use of ready-made forms, movements and combinations in ballet. He offered improvisation in dance as the basis of all ballet art.
Anna Pavlova was the first performer of the main parties in the productions of Mikhail Fokin. These were "Egyptian Nights", "Berenice", "Chopeniana", "Grapevine", "Evnika", "Armida Pavilion". But the main result of the collaboration was the ballet "The Dying Swan" to the music of Saint-Saens, which was destined to become one of the symbols of Russian ballet of the 20th century. The history of the ballerina Pavlova is inextricably linked with this masterpiece of choreography. The ballet scene of a dying swan shocked the whole world.
In December 1907, at one of the charity concerts, Anna Pavlova performed "The Dying Swan". The composer Camille Saint-Saens, who was present at the same time, was shocked by the interpretation of his music and expressed deep admiration for the talented performance of the miniature. He personally thanked the ballerina for the pleasure, kneeling down with the words: "Thanks to you, I realized that I was able to write beautiful music."
The best ballerinas on all continents tried to perform the famous ballet miniature. After Anna Pavlova, Maya Plisetskaya fully succeeded.
Foreign tours
In 1907, the Imperial Mariinsky Theater went abroad. Performances were held in Stockholm. Soon after returning to Russia, Anna Pavlova, a world-famous ballerina, left her native theater, having suffered significantly financially, since she had to pay a huge penalty for the failure of the contract. However, this did not stop the dancer.
Personal life
Anna Pavlova, a ballerina with extensive creative plans, went to Paris, where she began to participate in "Russian Seasons" and soon became the star of the project. Then she met with Victor Dandre, a great connoisseur of ballet art, who immediately took patronage of Anna, rented her apartments in the Paris suburbs, equipped a dance class. However, all this was quite expensive, and Dandre squandered public money, for which he was arrested and put on trial.
Then Pavlova Anna Pavlovna concluded a very expensive, but enslaving agreement with the London agency "Braff", under the terms of which she had to speak daily, and twice a day. The money received helped to rescue Viktor Dandra from prison, as he managed to pay off his debts. Lovers got married in one of the Paris Orthodox churches.
Swans in the life of a ballerina
After Pavlova partially worked under a contract with the Braff agency, she created her own ballet troupe and began to perform in triumph in France and the UK. Having fully settled with the agency, Anna Pavlova, whose personal life had already been established, settled with Dandre in London. Their house was the Ivy House mansion with a pond nearby, where beautiful white swans lived. From now on, the life of Anna Pavlova was inextricably linked with this wonderful house and with noble birds. The ballerina found calm by talking with swans.
Further creativity
Pavlova Anna Pavlovna, an active nature, hatched plans for her creative development. Her husband, fortunately, suddenly discovered the ability to produce and began to advance his wife's career. He became the official impresario of Anna Pavlova, and the great ballerina could no longer worry about her future, it was in good hands.
In 1913 and 1914, the dancer performed in Moscow and St. Petersburg, including the Mariinsky Theater, where she last danced the part of Nikia. In Moscow, Anna Pavlova took to the stage of the Mirror Theater in the Hermitage Garden. After this performance, she went on a long tour of Europe. This was followed by many months of touring in the USA, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Then, after a short break, Dandre organized a tour of Australia and Asian countries.
The desire for reform
Even in the first years of work at the Mariinsky Theater, after graduating from college, Anna Pavlova felt the potential for changing the established canons in ballet art. The young ballerina was in urgent need of change. It seemed to her that the choreography could be expanded and enriched by new forms. The classics of the genre seemed outdated, requiring a radical update.
While rehearsing her part in Vain Precaution, Pavlova invited Marius Petipa to take a revolutionary step and replace the short crinoline skirt with a long tight tunic, referring to the famous Maria Taglioni, the representative of the ballet of the Romantic era, who introduced the ballet tutu and pointe shoes, and then she refused a short skirt in favor of falling clothes.
The choreographer Petipa listened to Anna’s opinion, changed her clothes, and Marius watched the dance from beginning to end. After that, the tutu became an attribute of performances of the Swan Lake type, where a short skirt is appropriate for the style of production. Many considered the introduction of tunic as the main type of ballet clothing a violation of the canons, but nevertheless, the long, flowing clothes of the ballerina were later noted in the art of ballet costume as a necessary part of the performance.
Creativity and controversy
Anna Pavlova herself called herself the discoverer and reformer. She was proud that she was able to abandon the "bye-bye" (crinoline skirts) and dress in a more appropriate way. She had to argue with connoisseurs of traditional ballet for a long time and prove that the ballet tutu is far from suitable for all performances. And that theatrical costumes should be selected in accordance with what is happening on the stage, and not for the sake of classical canons.
Pavlova’s opponents claimed that open legs are primarily a demonstration of dance technique. Anna agreed, but spoke out for greater freedom in choosing a costume. She believed that crinoline has long become an academic attribute and is completely not conducive to creativity. Both parties were formally right, but they decided to leave the last word to the public.
Anna Pavlova regretted only one drawback of long clothes - the tunic deprived the ballerina of "porculence." She herself came up with this word, the term meant that the folds hindered the flying movements of the body, or rather, they hid the flight itself. But then Anna learned to use this flaw. The ballerina suggested that the partner toss her a little higher than usual, and everything fell into place. The required freedom of movement and grace appeared in the dance.
Serge Lifar: impressions
"I have never met such divine lightness, weightless airiness and such graceful movements." So wrote the largest French choreographer Serge Lifar about his meeting with Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.
“From the first minute she was subdued by the nature of her plasticity, she danced as she breathed, easily and naturally. No desire for the right ballet, fouet, virtuoso tricks. Only the natural beauty of natural movements and lightness, airiness ..."
"I saw in Pavlova not a ballerina, but a dance genius. She lifted me up off the ground, I could neither reason nor evaluate. There were no shortcomings, just as a deity cannot have them."
Tours and statistics
Anna Pavlova led an active touring life for 22 years. During this period, she took part in nine thousand performances, two thirds of which were performed with the main roles. Moving from city to city, the ballerina covered at least 500 thousand kilometers by train. The Italian master in the manufacture of ballet shoes sewed for Anna Pavlova two thousand pairs of pointe shoes per year.
In between tours, the ballerina was relaxing with her husband in her house, among tame swans, in the shade of trees, near the still clean pond. On one of these visits, Dandre invited the famous photographer Lafayette, and he made a series of pictures of Anna Pavlova with her beloved swan. Today, these photos are perceived as a memory of the great ballerina of the 20th century.
In Australia, in honor of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, they invented the Pavlova dessert made from exotic fruits with the addition of meringues. By the way, New Zealanders claim that they created a fruit treat.
Once Anna Pavlova danced the popular Mexican folk dance "Harabe Tapatio" on the theater stage, which means "dance with a hat", in its interpretation. Enthusiastic Mexicans threw their hats on the ballerina and the whole scene. And in 1924, this dance was declared the national dance of the Republic of Mexico.
In China, Anna Pavlova surprised the audience by dancing non-stop 37 fouettes on a small platform mounted on the back of an elephant walking across the field.
Dutch flower growers have grown a special variety of snow-white tulips, which received the name of the great ballerina Anna Pavlova. Graceful flowers on thin stems, as if symbolize grace.
In London, several different monuments dedicated to the ballerina were erected. Each of them refers to a certain period of her life. Three monuments were erected near Ivy House, in which Pavlova lived most of her life.
Anna was a rare philanthropist, she was engaged in charity work, opened several orphanages and shelters for homeless children. Girls and boys from the guests of these institutions, who have the ability to dance, were selected and sent to the school of children's choreography, which was opened in the Ivy House house.
A separate charity event of Anna Pavlova was her help to the starving Volga region. In addition, on her behalf, parcels were regularly sent to the St. Petersburg Ballet School.
The death of the great dancer
Anna Pavlova died of pneumonia on January 23, 1931 in the city of The Hague, during a tour. Ballerina caught a cold at a rehearsal in a cold room. Her ashes are in the Golders Green Columbarium, in London. The urn is located next to the remains of her husband Victor Dandre.
A film created in memory of Anna Pavlova
The life and fate of the world famous ballerina was reflected in a five-part television movie, set according to the script of Emil Lotyanu.
The film story tells about a short, but full of events, life of the great ballerina and a wonderful man named Anna Pavlova. 1983, the time the series appeared on the screen, was the year of the dancer’s 102th birthday. The film involves many characters, and the role of Pavlova was played by actress Galina Belyaeva.