St. Petersburg Marius Petipa At the height of
Petipa's strict academicism, the public was taken aback by Pavlova's style, a combination of a gift that paid little heed to academic rules: she frequently performed with bent knees, bad turnout, misplaced
port de bras and incorrectly placed
tours. Such a style, in many ways, harkened back to the time of the
romantic ballet and the great ballerinas of old. and
Sergei Legat for their book
The Russian Ballet In Caricatures. 1903 Pavlova performed in various
classical variations,
pas de deux and
pas de trois in such ballets as
La Camargo,
Le Roi Candaule,
Marcobomba and
The Sleeping Beauty. Her enthusiasm often led her astray: once during a performance as the River Thames in Petipa's ''
The Pharaoh's Daughter her energetic double pique turns'' led her to lose her balance and fall into the
prompter's box. Her weak ankles led to difficulty while performing as the fairy Candide in Petipa's
The Sleeping Beauty, leading the ballerina to revise the fairy's jumps
en pointe, much to the surprise of the Ballet Master. She tried desperately to imitate the renowned
Pierina Legnani,
Prima ballerina assoluta of the Imperial Theatres. Once, during class, she attempted Legnani's famous
fouettés, causing her teacher, Pavel Gerdt, to fly into a rage. He told her, Pavlova rose through the ranks quickly, becoming a favourite of the old maestro Petipa. From him she learned the title role in
Paquita, Princess Aspicia in ''The Pharaoh's Daughter
, Queen Nisia in Le Roi Candaule
and Giselle
. She was named danseuse
in 1902, première danseuse
in 1905 and prima ballerina
in 1906 after a resounding performance in Giselle. Petipa revised many grand pas for her, as well as many supplemental variations. She was much celebrated by the fanatical balletomanes of Tsarist Saint Petersburg, her legions of fans calling themselves the Pavlovatzi''. When the ballerina
Mathilde Kschessinska was pregnant in 1901, she coached Pavlova in the role of Nikiya in
La Bayadère. Kschessinska, not wanting to be upstaged, was certain Pavlova would fail in the role, as she was considered technically inferior because of her small ankles and lithe legs. Instead, audiences became enchanted with Pavlova and her frail, ethereal look, which fit the role perfectly, particularly in the scene
The Kingdom of the Shades.
Michel Fokine Pavlova is perhaps most renowned for creating the role of
The Dying Swan, a solo choreographed for her by
Michel Fokine. The ballet, created in 1905, is danced to
Le cygne from
The Carnival of the Animals by
Camille Saint-Saëns. She also choreographed several solos herself, one of which is
The Dragonfly, a short ballet set to music by Fritz Kreisler. While performing it, she wore a gossamer gown with large dragonfly wings fixed to the back. Pavlova had a rivalry with
Tamara Karsavina. According to the film
A Portrait of Giselle, Karsavina recalls a
wardrobe malfunction during a performance; her shoulder straps fell, exposing her breasts and Pavlova helped embarrass her to tears.
Ballets Russes In the first years of the
Ballets Russes, Pavlova worked briefly for
Sergei Diaghilev. Originally, she was to dance the lead in
Mikhail Fokine's
The Firebird, but refused the part, as she could not come to terms with
Igor Stravinsky's avant-garde score, and the role was given to
Tamara Karsavina. All her life, she preferred the melodious
"musique dansante" of the old maestros such as
Cesare Pugni and
Ludwig Minkus, caring little for anything else which strayed from the salon-style ballet music of the 19th century. '' for the Bolshoi Theatre. Moscow, 1908
Pavlova's ballet company Touring the world After the first Paris season of Ballets Russes, Pavlova left it to form her own company. It performed throughout the world, with a repertory primarily of abridgements of Petipa's works and pieces choreographed specially for her. Going independent was "a very enterprising and daring act. She toured on her own... for twenty years until her death. She traveled everywhere in the world that travel was possible, and introduced the ballet to millions who had never seen any form of Western dancing." Pavlova also performed many 'ethnic' dances, some of which she learned from local teachers during her travels. In addition to the dances of her native Russia, she performed Mexican, Japanese and East Indian dances. Supported by her interest,
Uday Shankar, her dance partner in "Krishna Radha" (1923), went on to revive the long-neglected art of the dance in his native India. Members of her company were largely English girls with Russianized names. In 1915, she appeared in the film
The Dumb Girl of Portici, in which she played a mute girl betrayed by an aristocrat. The house had an ornamental lake where she fed her pet swans, and where now stands a statue of her by the Scots sculptor
George Henry Paulin. The house was featured in the film
Anna Pavlova. It used to be the
London Jewish Cultural Centre, but a
blue plaque marks it as a site of significant historical interest being Pavlova's home. While in London, Pavlova was influential in the development of British ballet, most notably inspiring the career of
Alicia Markova. The Gate public house (https://thegatearkley.co.uk) located on the border of
Arkley and
Totteridge (London Borough of Barnet), has a story, framed on its walls, describing a visit by Pavlova and her dance company. There are at least five memorials to Pavlova in London, England: a contemporary sculpture by Tom Merrifield of Pavlova as the Dragonfly in the grounds of Ivy House, a sculpture by Scot
George Henry Paulin in the middle of the Ivy House pond, a blue plaque on the front of Ivy House, a statuette sitting with the urn that holds her ashes in Golders Green Crematorium and the gilded statue atop the Victoria Palace Theatre. When the
Victoria Palace Theatre in London, England, opened in 1911, a gilded statue of Pavlova had been installed above the cupola of the theatre. This was taken down for its safety during
World War II and was lost. In 2006, a replica of the original statue was restored in its place. In 1928, Anna Pavlova engaged St. Petersburg conductor Efrem Kurtz to accompany her dancing, which he did until her death in 1931. During the last five years of her life, one of her soloists,
Cleo Nordi, another St Petersburg ballerina, became her dedicated assistant, having left the
Paris Opera Ballet in 1926 to join her company and accompanied her on her second Australian tour to
Adelaide,
Brisbane and
Sydney in 1929. On the way back on board ship, Nordi married Pavlova's British musical director, Walford Hyden. Nordi kept Pavlova's flame burning in London, well into the 1970s, where she tutored hundreds of pupils including many ballet stars. ,
Anna Pavlova, 1915,
Library of Congress United States Between 1912 and 1926, Pavlova made almost annual tours of the United States, traveling from coast to coast. "A generation of dancers turned to the art because of her. She roused America as no one had done since
Elssler. ... America became Pavlova-conscious and therefore ballet-conscious. Dance and passion, dance and drama were fused." ;Boston Pavlova was introduced to audiences in the
United States by
Max Rabinoff during his time as managing director of the Boston Grand Opera Company from 1914 to 1917 and was featured there with her Russian Ballet Company during that period. ;St. Louis In 1914, Pavlova performed in St. Louis, Missouri, after being engaged at the last minute by
Hattie B. Gooding, responsible for a series of worthy musical attractions presented to the St. Louis public during the season of 1913–14. Gooding went to New York to arrange with the musical managers for the attractions offered. Out of a long list, she selected those who represent the highest in their own special field and which she felt sure St. Louisans would enjoy. The list began with Madame
Louise Homer, prima donna contralto of the Metropolitan Grand Opera Co., followed by
Josef Hofmann, pianist, Pavlova with the Russian ballet. For the last, the expenses were $5,500.00 ($ in dollars) for two nights, and the receipts $7,500.00 ($ in dollars), netting a clear gain of $2,000.00 ($ in dollars); her other evenings were proportionately successful financially. The advance sales were greater than any other city in the United States. At the Pavlova concert, when Gooding engaged, at the last hour, the Russian dancer for two nights, the New York managers became dubious and anxiously rushed four special advance agents to assist her. On seeing the bookings for both nights, they quietly slipped back to New York fully convinced of her ability to attract audiences in St. Louis, which had always, heretofore, been called "the worst show town" in the country. 1922 ==Personal life==