Anna Pavlova: The Famous Russian Ballerina

Anna Pavlova (1881 – 1931) was born two months premature on a cold winter’s day in the Preobrazhensky Regiment hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 12 [O.S. January 31] 1881, where her stepfather Matvey Pavlovich Pavlov served as a reserve soldier. She was the daughter of a poor laundry-woman, Lyubov Feodorovna, who came from a peasants family and worked as a laundress for a Russian-Jewish banker Lazar Polyakov. As a child, Anna preferred to tell her friends that she was from an earlier marriage and that her mother had once been married to a man named Pavel, who died when she was just a young child. Even though they were poor, her mother was able to take her at the age of eight to see a performance of The Sleeping Beauty shortly after the premiere at the renowned Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Anna Pavlova experienced an epiphany and was captivated by what she saw, and after that experience, it became her ultimate dream to become a ballet dancer and a ballerina. Later that same year, she applied to the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg but was rejected because she was too skinny and small. She was advised to return when she reached her tenth year, and consequently, two years later, she tried again and was admitted after passing with flying colors at the entrance exam.

While beginning her ballet education, Anna Pavlova had a challenging early experience since her body did not fit the classical ballet ideal of the era. She had thin ankles, long limbs, and arched feet, unlike the preferred small compact body types. Hence, she did not receive any positive comments from her fellow students or mentors. Back then, at the end of the century, ballet dancers with small statures were favored, while nowadays, dancers and ballerinas must be thin, tall, strong, and flexible. However, Anna used her god-given talents and developed her own ballet style turning her body into a work of art by embracing a new form of dance that suited her image. She wasn’t about to give up, so she worked hard and long to improve and master her technique despite her physical challenges. In the effort to become better and stronger. Furthermore, she took extra lessons with famous teachers and established ballet dancers practicing steps until she mastered them. Her natural gift and undisputed talent for dance became increasingly apparent to her teachers, and she progressed quickly during her eight years of school.

In 1898, Anna Pavlova entered the Classe De Perfection of Ekaterina Vazem, former Prima ballerina of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theatres. Once again, her exceptional gifts became more and more obvious. Subsequently, in her final year at the Imperial Ballet School, she performed many roles with the principal company proving herself to be an extraordinary ballet dancer. In 1899 at the annual graduation performance, Anna Pavlova made an immense impression on the ballet jury. Hence, she got the opportunity to join the Imperial Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre as a coryphee later that year. That would mean that she could bypass the corps de ballet and assume major roles immediately. The Mariinsky Theatre was home to both Russian ballet and opera since the 1860s, and it had become a real mecca for both international and Russian artists. Thus, it was an international hot spot where she could find inspiration and develop even further. After her graduation, she made her company debut on September 19, 1899, in a pas de trois in “La Fille Mal Gardée“. From this point on, after joining the Maryinsky Theatre, Anna Pavlova’s career took off, and only four years later, in 1906, she received the title as “prima ballerina,” setting the path for a long and glorious career.

Anna Pavlova began her career after her debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in “La Fille Mal Gardée” on September 19, 1899. She became a favorite of Maestro Petipa, a man of great influence at Mariinsky, which gave her the opportunity to rise through the ranks quickly. One of her earliest roles with the ballet company was Zulma, an attendant of the Queen of the Wilis in “Giselle.” In February 1900, she was able to dance the role of Frost in “The Seasons,” and in April the same year, she had her débute as Eos in “The Awakening of Flora,” which became the ballet in which she performed her first principal role. Later that year, Petipa promoted her to the part of the leading role of Flora. The ballet was originally created for the virtuosa Matilda Kschessinskaya, but nevertheless, the 19-year-old Anna Pavlova débuted as Flora on September 23, 1900. Her performance was a huge success, and the critic Bezobrazov described her dance as light and graceful. From that point on, the leading role of the Goddess of the Flowers became one of her favorites. During 1901-1902, her name was firmly established, and she became the second soloist in 1902, première danseuse in 1905, and after a resounding performance in the ballet “Giselle,” a prima ballerina in 1906, for which Petipa modified the ballerina’s dances to suit her specifically. Still today, this revised version is performed at the Mariinsky.

Anna Pavlova’s career soon blossomed. With every performance and appearance, she gained increasing critical acclaim and fame. But most of all, it was in 1905, she made her breakthrough performance when she danced the lead solo “The Swan” (later renamed “The Dying Swan”) choreographed by Ballet Russes Michael Fokine’s. A solo that he explicitly choreographed for Pavlova. The ballet is danced to “Le Cygne” from “The Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns. With her personal dancing style, delicate movements, and intense facial expressions, Anna conveyed the play’s complex messages about the fragility and preciousness of life to the audience. Subsequently, The Dying Swan was to become Anna Pavlova’s signature role. In 1907 Anna and a handful of other dancers took leave on her first tour abroad. The tour stopped at capital cities throughout Europe, including Copenhagen, Berlin, and Prague. Her performances became such a success that Anna signed up for a second tour in 1908. In 1909, after having performed her second tour, Sergei Diaghilev from the infamous Ballet Russes invited Anna to join on its first historical tour during the opening season in Paris.

During the year 1910, Anna Pavlova toured the United Kingdom and the United States, and in 1911, she took a major decision and step in her career and formed her own ballet company. Finally, Anna was able to retain complete creative control over choreography and performances. To summon her tour activity up, Anna Pavlova took part in a vast number of globe-covering tours to share her love and fascination for ballet and her impeccable talent. Pavlova traveled thousands of miles to showcase the art of ballet to the world. Two years later, in 1913, she toured America, and for the next fifteen years, countless other countries – a total of 300,000 miles and 4000 performance. Appearing in more than four thousand performances overseas in fifteen years was a challenge back then as well as it would be today with modern world transportation and comfort. However, Annas love for ballet gave her the endurance and energy to make the hard performance exhausting trips across the globe. She dedicated her life to performing and sharing. During each dance, Pavlova always tried to pull in the audience’s attention and make them fall in love with each move and feeling. Anna Pavlova’s performances were able to give people a love for the dance, and in this way, she subsequently helped bring a new level of appreciation and admiration towards the art of ballet, making it more popular than ever before.

When writing about Anna Pavlova’s personal life, it’s impossible not to include her working-related experiences, since dancing and everything about it was the core of her life and how she lived. More than any other dancer Anna Pavlova symbolized the ballerina of the 20th century. The dark, dramatic eyes, the pale face, and the long dark hair, combined with the elegant thin figure and the complete dedication to dance and creative physical expression. Regarding her dance, she had created her completely own dancing style, and she had an extraordinary range. Like the ballet “Giselle,” Anna Pavlova danced the most complicated roles. She performed many roles requiring charm and elegance, like the seductive Kitri in “Don Quixote” or the beautiful woman in “Christmas.” Over the years, Anna Pavlova gradually became more famous, and her legions of fans created a special name, the Pavlovtzi, for themselves. One among the fans looked upon Pavlova especially favorably. An aristocrat and member of the St. Petersburg municipal council, Victor Dandré, followed her career from her schooldays. Victor Dandré, her companion and manager, declared that he was, in fact, her husband in his 1932 biography of Pavlova: “Anna Pavlova: In Art & Life.” According to the biography, they had secretly married in 1914 after meeting in 1904 (some sources say 1900). Since she and her husband never had children, she created a home for Russian refugee children in Paris in 1920. This was beneficial since the First World War had ended only two years prior, and Russia was in the midst of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Pavlova was meticulous about her appearance and performance on stage but equally concerned with her off-stage image. She was an exquisite Russian ballet dancer who looked as chic in the pre-1914 fashions as those of the 1920s. Pavlova understood that appearance and image were important for her career, which is notable from numerous photographs, e.g., in front of famous buildings and landmarks throughout the world. She could even maintain her elegant chic and poise posing on a camel. Furthermore, Pavlova was famous for her resilience and work ethic and was well aware that talent alone wasn’t enough to succeed. She worked hard to reach her goals. It wasn’t enough for her to be the best, but Pavlova had an urge to be able to influence the view on ballet and dance in general. After achieving fame and recognition in Russia, she wanted to seek opportunities and new experiences abroad on the world’s big stages. Just a few years after she graduated from the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, she got the chance to go on tour. Initially in Warsaw, but soon after in Europe and later on in numerous countries, and equally on the biggest ballet stages worldwide. In many places where she performed, she changed the view and perception of dance and ballet and was very influential on how ballet was performed in the years to come.

After an exhausting tour in England in 1930, Anna Pavlova, now almost 50 years old, needed a pause and took a three-week vacation at Christmas. She was working in The Hague, and on her way back from Cannes to Paris, the train she was in had an accident. Anna was fortunately unharmed but had to wait on the platform for 12 hours. It was an extremely cold and snowy evening, and she was only wearing a thin silk pajamas and a thin jacket. Once in Holland, and only a few days after the accident, Pavlova developed double pneumonia, became very sick, and sent a message to Paris to her physician, Dr. Zalewski, to come to The Hague. After examining her thoroughly, he stated that she had pneumonia and required an operation. He also said that if she went ahead with the surgery, she would never be able to dance again. She refused to have it, saying, “If I can’t dance, then I’d rather be dead.” In his memoirs, her alleged husband, Victor Dandré, wrote that Pavlova died half past midnight on Friday, January 23, 1931, with Dr. Zalewsky, her maid Marguerite Létienne, and himself at her bedside – and that her last words were, “Get my ‘Swan’ costume ready.” Dandré and Létienne found her favorite beige lace dress, dressed her in it, and placed her in a coffin. A couple of hours later, at 7 am, a Russian Orthodox priest arrived to pray for her, and at 7:30 am, they moved the coffin to the mortuary chapel at the Catholic hospital in The Hague.

Anna Pavlova was the most celebrated and influential ballet dancer of her time. Her legacy is maintained through societies, dance schools, and companies established in her honor, but perhaps most significantly, she inspired the future generations of ballet dancers. It’s fascinating that a Russian ballerina born over 140 years ago, whom almost no one of today’s audiences has seen perform or dance, can hold such devoted followings and such attention. How was she able to project a lasting image of greatness, and what made her so unique? The answer is that she was a genius. She maintained a complete focus on her dance and performance throughout her life, and she even created a completely new and unique dancing style. Anna Pavlova wouldn’t rest until she had shared it with as many people as possible, and hence, she was the first prima ballerina to take her art around the world. Anna was a solo dancer who overwhelmed everyone who saw her perform with her dramatic skills and the virtuosity she brought to the ballet. During Pavlova’s career, her audiences included kings, czars, aristocrats, and common people. Pavlova wrote, “A ballerina’s reward will be the power to help those who come to see her dance to forget the sadness and monotony of life, just for a while.”

Pavlova revolutionized the ideal for ballerinas. Her feet were extremely curved, so she altered and strengthened her pointe shoe by adding hard leather on the soles to support and flatten the shoe box. This new version became the future ballet shoe that every ballet dancer uses in modern times. Furthermore, Pavlova’s entrepreneurial endeavor of her own ballet touring company created pathways for women in ballet to make their place in the world of dance. Between 1910 and 1925, her company traveled 300,000 miles and gave nearly 4,000 performances. Moreover, Anna Pavlova was a massive inspiration to Sir Frederick Ashton, a contemporary British choreographer and ballet dancer who also worked as a director and choreographer in opera and film. When he was 13 years old in 1917, he saw her dance at the Municipal Theater in Lima, Peru. He became so intrigued by her that he borrowed a sequence of steps from her. The famous and so-called “Fred step” appears in most of his ballets. The sequence is as follows: ‘arabesque, fondu, coupé, petit developpé, pas de bourée, pas de chat,’ and it has become Ashtons choreographic signature but he, himself, referred to this sequence as the “Pavlov,” paying tribute to the great ballerina. Speaking of tribute – in the United States, two rival dance companies were created to pay tribute to the Pavlova legend: George Daugherty’s “Tribute to Pavlova” and “A Pavlova Celebration,” directed by Douglas Wassell. Both companies are touring the U.S. Also, in the U.S., “Exhibit Pavlova!” has appeared at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. The exhibition reflects items from three devoted admirers of Pavlova in its initial form.

After Anna Pavlova departed from Russia, she purchased her grand and famous home in London, Ivy House, located in the North-west London area of Golders Green, in 1912, and permanently settled in London. Ivy House is now used as a school and is operated as a museum by the Pavlova Society. In the large country home, an elite group of famous ballet personages, including Dame Markova in a fluffy white fur coat, Sir Anton Dolin, in apricot shirt and white suit, and Dame Marie Rambert, petite, vivacious, and 93 years of age, launched the British printing of the new and beautiful book “Pavlova.” Also, in London, the museum held a week of lunchtime lecturers, including Dame Ninette de Valois on “Pavlova’s Legacy to British ballet” and Alicia Markova speaking about her memories of the dancer. The museum screened two flickering and rare black and white films: “The Dumb Girl of Portici” Pavlova’s feature film, made by Universal Studios in California and Chicago in 1916 (for which she earned the unheard-of sum of $66.66 per minute) and “The Immortal Swan” which was made of sequences recorded on silent film in Hollywood and elsewhere in 1924-25. Last but not least, Anna Pavlova’s legacy is not just found in her world of dance. Since she and her husband never had children, she created a home for Russian refugee children in Paris in 1920. This was beneficial since the First World War had ended only two years prior, and Russia was in the midst of the Bolshevik Revolution.