Anna Pavlova as The Dying Swan, Noblemen's Hall St. Petersburg, Russia.
For this blog, I have selected the ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. This is due to the fact that she is such an inspiration. I'm not familiar with ballet, but when I Googled "most famous ballerinas," she was the first to come up. I had to understand more about her and why she is so famous, despite the fact that she dated back to the late 1800s and that many more ballerinas followed her. She was by far the most famous Russian prima ballerina, a woman of many skills and interests. I believe what attracted my interest in her was the fact that she died young and began her career late as a ballerina. Most ballerinas begin at the age of four, but in her case, she began at the age of eight. This meant she has already missed out on four years of techniques and body alignments. Getting her feet adapted to turnouts and her body used to different positions, for example. Not only that, but she had lived for 49 years and had been a ballet dancer for 41 of them. She is well known for her tours outside of Russia, where she brings and creates outstanding new innovative works. This made her a pioneer as a female arts leader, and she was really recognized for these tours outside of Russia as a ballerina.
Anna Pavlova as a child, St. Petersburg, Russia, in the late 1800s.
Anna Pavlova was born on February 12, 1881, in St. Petersburg, Russia, to a tiny, poor family. She was inspired for the first time when she and her mother went to see a performance of The Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theatre in her hometown when she was eight years old. She was profoundly impressed and moved by the performance after seeing it. She was intrigued and longed to be a dancer herself. Pavlova, being such a passionate and committed young lady, went right for it, putting all of her effort and energy into this desire. Only two years later, she was chosen for such a large production as the Imperial Ballet School. This was led by Petipa who was known for large productions such as the Don Quixote, the Swan Lake, etc. Petipa and the other teachers at the school saw her talent and commitment right away and believed she was very gifted. This is because she not only outperformed her talent abilities, but she also worked really hard to not only have her talents but to have a lot more than that. She was well aware that ballet demanded a talented but also an ambitious dancer who was willing to put in the time and work necessary to learn its intricate techniques. She was not only highly committed, but she was also a very clever woman who understood a lot about working hard and attaining big ambitions. She states; “No one can arrive from being talented alone. God gives talent, work transforms talent into genius” (5). I mean, she is exceptionally wise for her age and was definitely a gift to not only her generation but many more to come. She understood that talent alone would not be enough to propel her to the top. She had to endure and put in a lot of effort, which had effectively paid off quite quickly for her. Her journey was, undoubtedly, as genius as she mentioned.
Her genuine experience just before her death was a great highlight for me. As I learned more about her, I realized she was a really motivated and passionate person. This took me by surprise when I saw this passion on a whole other level. She first had symptoms and then developed double pneumonia, causing her sickness to rapidly worsen. Then, above and beyond any other conversation she may have before their time is up, she requests to see her swan costume one final time. It's also worth noting for that matter that she had a pet swan. This is bittersweet since she was incredibly passionate but was unable to show the world more of what she was capable of due to her tragic death. This is merely to demonstrate how genuine and devoted she was to that costume and ballet in general.
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| Anna Pavlova with her pet swan, the early 1900s. Anna Pavlova's career was spectacular. She was classically skilled in the traditional methods, but she liked to experiment with repertory, which she did with Fokine and others. Let me also emphasize that she was one of the very first Russians to travel outside of Russia. This was crucial to mention because it was unusual for her period. She initially began as a coryphée, which allowed her to avoid dancing with bigger groups in a corps de ballet. She basically skipped the traditional route of dancing with the larger groups first and went straight to the smaller groups. Shortly after, on September 19, 1899, she founded her own company and participated in La Filla Mal Gardée, with only two other dancers. This performance was also held in her hometown of St. Petersburg. This is fascinating to witness since it is a kind of flashback to the time when she initially wanted to become a dancer. I feel that her ability to integrate many dance elements from all around the world is what helped her become such an innovative artist. She would combine disparities to create her own signature of ideas, new dance techniques, and styles. I have to admit she must have taken a moment to be satisfied with herself and her decisions. After her growing career as she grew after every performance, she gained so much fame and respect. She was well known for her outstanding performance as the soloist in The Dying Swan, choreographed by Michael Fokine and performed live music by Camille Saint-Saens. She very much provided the complete package, as she not only presented a wonderful technique-filled performance, but she also offered significance and articulated a very complicated meaning and message that The Dying Swan was meant to give. This is what effectively became her most prominent and well-known roles of all time. |
| Anna Pavlova performing in a production called 'Chopiniana' in New Zealand. |
To get to know more about Anna Pavlova, please check out these great resources below:
Video #1:
A great video displaying Anna Pavlova in the trailer 'The Dumb Girl of Portici'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67klUrz2SLE&t=68s
Video #2:
This is my personal favorite video. This is a live performance in which Anna Pavlova presented 'The Swan' or 'The Dying Swan' and did it so naturally and wonderfully that she was able to capture and build such a great character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkFSBkl9mmo
Sources:
Biography. “Anna Pavlova”, (1881-1931), Newsletter. Pub. April 2nd, 2014. https://www.biography.com/performer/anna-pavlova
Cambridge. “The Swan Brand: Reframing the Legacy of Anna Pavlova, Cambridge Core, An Extract, Pub. on March 23, 2012.https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/dance-research-journal/article/abs/swan-brand-reframing-the-legacy-of-anna-pavlova/7EF9DA6187AE5906C34529F2E40DCF5F
Culture trip. “The Most Famous Ballerina You Should Know”, under Anna Pavlova. Pub. on March 30, 2021.https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/articles/the-9-best-female-ballet-dancers-celebrated-by-the-national-dance-awards/
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