Biography of Anna Pavlova

Her life and work inspired and delighted many people. Thousands of young girls, looking at Anna Pavlova began to dream of ballet and stage, dreaming at least a hundredths of a share in her talent. And millions of people, looking at her dance, forgot, only for a few minutes, about their problems and worries, enjoying the grace, beauty and grace of the great ballerina. Fortunately, the video fragments of her performances have survived, and the current generation can also join in and be imbued with the rare gift of the "swan of Russian ballet".
However, her life was not simple and easy. Her biography still has many white spots, but one thing is obvious: her fame and fame are the results of persistent, almost hard labor, iron self-discipline and unbending persistence.

Childhood and dream
Anna Pavlova was born January 31, 1881 in the vicinity of St. Petersburg in the family of a soldier and washerwoman. Her father Matvey Pavlov died when the girl was 2 years old. However, there is reason to believe that he met the mother of the future star already when she was pregnant with Anna. There were rumors that the real father of Pavlova was a well-known philanthropist Lazar Polyakov, in whose house her mother worked. But it is already impossible to confirm or deny this information. Left alone with her mother, Lyubov Fedorovna Polyakova, they began to live in the Ligovo near St. Petersburg.

The family lived very poorly, but still the mother tried occasionally to please her daughter with gifts and simple childish pleasures. So, when the girl was 8 years old, her mother took her to the Mariinsky Theater for the first time. On that day, the play "Sleeping Beauty" was on stage. In the second act, the young dancers performed a beautiful waltz and the mother asked Anya if she would like to dance the same way. To which the girl seriously replied that no, she wants to dance, like the ballerina who plays Sleeping Beauty.

From that very day, the future prima did not imagine a different fate for herself, except how to relate her life to the ballet. She persuaded her mother to send her to a ballet school. However, the girl was not taken immediately, since she was not yet 10 years old. For the time being, the dream of becoming a ballerina has not been lost, but only strengthened. And a couple of years later, Anya Pavlov was accepted to the Imperial Ballet School.

Study in a ballet school
Discipline in the Imperial School of Ballet was similar to the monastic. However, they taught here perfectly, this is where the technique of the classical Russian ballet was preserved.

Anna Pavlova did not suffer from strict discipline and the charter of the school, because she was completely immersed in studies and all gave herself to lessons in choreography and ballet mastery. Much more upset her, as it seemed then, her imperfection in the physical plane. The fact is that at that time athletic girls, with a powerful developed skeleton and muscles, were considered to be the standard of the ballerina, as it was easier for them to perform various complex tricks and pirouettes. And Anna was thin, thin, elegant, almost "transparent" and therefore was not considered a promising student. However, her teachers took time in her to see what made her stand out among the other dancers: amazing plasticity and grace, and most importantly - the ability to rethink and "revive" the feelings and emotions of those heroines she performed. Her "airiness", fragility and ease filled the dance with extraordinary beauty and mystery. So, her "lack" has turned into an undeniable dignity.

Mariinsky Theater and success
In 1899, Anna Pavlova graduated from the ballet school and was immediately accepted into the Mariinsky Theater. At first she was content with secondary roles. But gradually, due to her unusual, emotional and spiritual style of dance, the audience began to sing it out among other theater artists. She began to give more and more important roles, first she performs the second part, and then has already moved to the first roles.

In 1902, her dance in "La Bayadere" captivates both spectators and professionals. And in 1903 Papvelova first appeared on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. From this moment begins its triumph on the Russian stage. There are performances of "The Nutcracker", "The Humpbacked Horse", "Raymonda", "Giselle", where Pavlova performs the leading parties.

A special role in her dancing career was played by the choreographer Mikhail Fokin. Thanks to their creative union, an amazing and unusual dance was born - the production of "Swan" to the music of Saint-Saens. The idea of ​​this 2-minute performance was born spontaneously, and the dance itself was a complete improvisation. But he was executed so touchingly, dramatically bright and fascinating that he conquered the hearts of spectators at one point, later received the name "Dying Swan", which later became the crown number and the visiting card of Anna Pavlova.

The composer Saint-Saens himself admitted later that before he looked at Pavlova's dance for his music, he did not even suspect what a beautiful work he had composed.

Tour and own troupe
Since 1909, the world tour of Anna Pavlova begins. World popularity and recognition to her bring the productions of "Russian Seasons" by Sergei Diaglev in the French capital. However, she craves creative freedom and dreams of creating her own troupe. And in 1910 she left the Mariinsky Theater and began to tour alone with her ballet. The geography of her speeches covers almost the entire globe: Europe, America, Asia, the Far East. And wherever she went, the audience welcomed her as the brightest world star. Pavlova gave several performances a day, putting all her songs into performances and sparing no mercy for her health, which she had since childhood and was not particularly strong. For more than 20-year period of permanent tours, she played more than 8 thousand performances. They say that for a year she had to wear out a few thousand pointes.

Anna Pavlova and Victor Dendre
Personal life of Anna Pavlova was reliably hidden from prying eyes. The ballerina herself said that her family is theater and ballet, and therefore simple female joys, such as husband and children, are not for her. However, although she was not officially behind her husband, the man of her heart was always with her.

Victor Dendre is a Russian engineer and entrepreneur with French roots. Their alliance with Pavlova was not easy, they parted, then again converged. In 1910, Dendre was arrested and accused of wasting. Anna Pavlova gave a lot of money to rescue her beloved. They say that it was in order to collect the necessary amount of funds for his release, she did not spare herself and played to exhaustion for 9-10 performances a week, touring the world.

Victor Dendre played a role, speaking in modern language, the producer Anna Pavlova. Organizing her tours, press conferences and photo sessions. They bought a house in the vicinity of London, with large ponds and, of course, white swans, where they lived together with Anna.

But it was Dendra who composed a busy and loaded schedule of the ballet dancers' performances and tours, trying to squeeze out everything from her, not sparing neither Anna herself, nor her health. Perhaps this is what played the decisive role in her untimely death.

Anna Pavlova died on January 23, 1931, from pneumonia, not having lived a week before her fiftieth birthday. During the tour in the Netherlands on the train, in which Anna was traveling with the troupe, a breakdown occurred. Pavlova left the car in a light nightie with a sheepskin coat thrown over her shoulders. And after a few days she fell ill with pneumonia. They say that when they died, her last words were "Bring me my Swan costume" - even on her deathbed, she continued to think about ballet.