Anna Pavlova: A Russian Ballerina

 Anna Pavlova was a famous ballerina who grew up in Russia and loved to dance. She wasn't a typical little girl who grew up with dolls and read books. Anna spent her time on her one true passion: dance.

 Anna was born on January 31, 1881. She was two months premature and was very sick and thin. Her mother, Lyubov Pavlova, was very poor and she was a laundress. Her father's identity was unknown for a while when Anna grew up, she said that he died when she was two. Later they found out that her father's name was Poliakov and he was a banker and then she remarried to Matvey Pavlova. Matvey adopted Anna at the age of three and she was the only child.

 Pavlova became interested in dance at age eight, when her mom brought her to see Marius Petipas original production of Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theatre. So in return of her passion, her mother brought her to audition at the renowned Imperial Ballet School. She was not accpeted at first because of her age and her "sickly" appearance, but at age ten she was acceptedd in 1891.

 Many people looked down on her because of her appearance. She was thin, had skinny ankles, arched feet, and long limbs. That's quite different now; many people would love to have those features. Back then the picture perfect ballerina had a compact body and very muscular. Even the kids at her dance school called her "broom" and "la petite sauvage."

 Even some of the teachers looked down on her like Pavel Gerdt. One day Anna was doing fuottes, a difficult turn where the leg is held out away from the body, and Pavel yelled at her. He said that her legs were too agile and her body was too fragile. Although, some of the teachers and choreographers loved her, when Anna had to take the place of Mathilde Kschessinka because she was pregnant in 1901 she suited the role perfectly and people admired her appearance. Kschessinka was a little jealous of Anna and thought that she shouldn't play the role because of her figure.

Even though the children and teachers made fun of her, she worked all the harder to imrove her unique style. She took extra classes with Christian Johansson, Pavel Gerdt, and Nikolai Legat. She was even trained by Enrico Cecchetti, the creator of the cecchetti method. In 1898, she entered the "classe de perfection" of Ekatrina Vazem, a former ballerina of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre.

 At her first show she was a cupid in Petipa's Un Conte De Fees (A Fairy Tale) which the ballet instructor directed for the students. Her last year at Imperial Ballet Theatre she was in many lead roles. She graduated in 1899 at age 18; she was then allowed to move up a level into the Imperial Ballet.

 Many dance critics and historians loved her, especially Nikolai Bezobrazov. Some people, though, were taken aback by her different style like performing with bent knees and not using her arms or turn-out correctly. Anna's style was more back to the Romantic ballet period.

Even though not everyone liked her style, she performed in many ballets such as La Camagro, Le Roi Candaule, Macrobomba, The Pharaoh's Daughter, and Sleeping Beauty. Pavlova is most remembered for her Dying Swan, a solo choreographed by Michel Fokine.

 Miss Pavlova eventually left Russia and moved to London, where she lived the rest of her life. There she was influenced by Alicia Markova. She owned a house in London called Ivy House, which became famous for the ornamental lake with swans. What a coincidence that she had swans and she played as a swan in a ballet.

Later in her life Anna developed her own ballet company and they traveled to perform al over the world. They were introduced to America by a man named Max Rabinoff, a managing director of the Boston Grand Opera Company. Her company, including Anna, went to India and there she became the world's best Indian dance performer.

 Anna's dreams all ended when she was told while in the Netherlands that she had pleurisy and that she needed operation but taking the operation would mean giving up dance for the rest of her life. She did not go into the operation and three weeks later she on January 23, 1931, she passed away. She was still in the Netherlands and she was holding her Dying Swan costume, and her last words were, "Play the last measure softly."

Her memorial services were held in the Russian Orthodox Chruch in London. She was cremated and placed at the Golden Green crematorium along with her ballet shoes, which have been stolen. Later, after much controversy they flew the ashes back to Russia, her home.