Biography of the ballerina in the Chuvash language of Anna Pavlova. “The Dying Swan” by Anna Pavlova

Anna Lazarevna Pavlova is a legend of Russian ballet. She was worshiped, admired and idolized.

Only Maya Plesetskaya could repeat her dance of the dying white swan. Her whole life was subordinated to ballet.

She abandoned her family for the sake of art. Anna believed that a ballerina, like a nun, should serve the stage and have no distractions.

Childhood and studies

There is different information regarding the date of birth of the great ballerina. According to some sources, she was born on January 31, and according to others, on February 12, 1881.

According to documents, Anna was born into the family of a washerwoman, Lyubov Fedorovna Pavlova, and a peasant who served as a simple soldier, Matvey Pavlovich.

However, another version has become more widespread.

The girl became the illegitimate fruit of love between a rich landowner and her mother, who worked for them at one time as a maid.

Anna in childhood

Banker Lazar Polyakov could not recognize the baby as his daughter; this would have caused irreparable damage to his reputation.

However, he allowed me to give her his middle name. So Anna was recorded in the documents as Lazarevna, but with her mother’s surname - Pavlova.

The girl was born premature. Due to poor health, she grew thin, had pale skin and was often sick.

The first years of his life, he and his mother lived in a small village in the clean air near St. Petersburg.

Their life was poor, but the mother sometimes tried to spoil the girl.

The most amazing event that changed the little girl’s whole life was a visit to the Mariinsky Theater.

Mom bought tickets to the play “Sleeping Beauty”. The girl was fascinated by the actions on stage. And from then on, all her thoughts were focused on ballet.

At the age of 8, Anna was taken to the entrance examination to the ballet school, but the teachers recommended that she come back after 2 years.

In 1891, the girl was accepted into the ballet school. The discipline there was very strict.

Ballet classes alone lasted 8 hours every day.

However, even then Anna Pavlova showed a fighting spirit.

She tried to be the best, although due to poor health it was difficult for her to endure such colossal loads.

During their studies, the royal family came to visit them at the school. Anna, together with other students, then appeared on stage for the first time in front of such an important audience.

In 1898 16-year-old Anna graduated from college with honors and the title of “first dancer.”

My graduation role was the role of the butler’s daughter in the play “Imaginary Dryads”.

Becoming a ballerina

The young graduate immediately joined the Mariinsky Theater. For the first time on the big stage she performed in a threesome dance in the ballet “Vain Precaution”.

After 2 years, she was entrusted with dancing the central role in the production of “Pharaoh’s Daughter” to the music of Caesar Pugni.

A little later, Anna Pavlova received an offer to dance the role of Nikia from Marius Petipa, who staged La Bayadère.

In 1903 she danced the role of Giselle in the ballet of the same name.

Beginning of the 20th century was marked by innovative ideas and reforms in ballet art. Choreographer Mikhail Fokin was an active supporter of change.

Anna Pavlova became the first to participate in M. Fokin's productions. He became her new teacher.

She danced parts in his productions such as “Eunika”, “Chopiniana”, “Egyptian Nights”.

However, the most outstanding fruit of their collaboration was the ballet “The Dying Swan”, which featured music by C. Saint-Saëns.

Anna performed this part almost completely improvised. And this dance became a symbol and masterpiece of all ballet art.

The composer himself, who was present at the performance of this ballet, was shocked by the modern interpretation of his music and how the ballerina was able to convey this range of feelings through dance.

So fame came to Anna Pavlova and they began to say about her: “God himself lives in her dance.”

World fame and foreign tours

In 1907, the Mariinsky Theater went on tour abroad to Stockholm. The performances there were a great success.

However, Anna wanted freedom of action and independence in decision-making.

In 1909 she herself staged the play “Rubinstein’s Night”. The audience greeted this dance monologue about crazy passionate love with applause.

Then the ballerina, deafened by success, decides to leave the theater. The theater did not want to let go of its prima, and Anna compromises.

She signs a contract only to participate in some of her most beloved performances.

But the idea of ​​creating her own mobile troupe and announcing Russian ballet to the whole world does not leave the great ballerina.

In 1910, she paid the theater a large penalty for premature termination of the contract and went “free swimming.”

She began independent tours with her own troupe with resounding success in France and England.

In Moscow she appeared on the stage of the Mirror Theater, installed in the Hermitage Garden. Then a long tour of Europe is organized.

Afterwards, Anna amazed audiences in the USA, Chile, Brazil and Argentina with her ballet.

In each country, the ballerina loved to study local dance traditions. Then she included them in her ballet performances.

Anna Pavlova's ballet troupe was the only one whose repertoire included oriental motifs, African and Indian movements.

In Australia, the dancers were so captivated by the grace and lightness of the ballet steps that they came up with an airy dessert in her honor and called it “Pavlova”.

In many English cities, monuments were erected depicting the Russian ballet prima.

Personal life

The young, rising ballet “star” was seen at a performance by the wealthy, influential businessman Victor Dandre.

He was a descendant of a famous noble family, so he had a good education and knew several languages.

He was flattered by his courtship of a girl whose talent even the royals admired. However, he did not even think about marriage.

Victor became the ballerina's patron. He rented a cozy apartment for her with a personal dance class, took her to chic restaurants and gave her expensive gifts.

With Victor Dandre

Anna soon realized that this relationship had no future. They were not equal in social status, and the ballerina broke off their romance.

She plunged headlong into work and touring. And Victor began to have a “black” streak.

He became bankrupt, owed a large amount of money and was unable to repay the debt. A lawsuit was filed against him.

The businessman was sent to prison and a bail amount was set, which his relatives could not raise.

Anna Pavlova learned that her lover was in prison while on tour in Paris.

She sent the required amount for bail and called Victor to her place.

The entrepreneur had to secretly leave Russia, since he was under recognizance not to leave and did not have a passport.

In Paris in 1911, young people secretly got married in a church. Anna made Victor promise that he would not tell anyone about their marriage.

In London they settled in their own mansion, near which there was a pond with swans.

Subsequently, Victor Dandre became the organizer of her touring life. He handled accounting, housekeeping, held business meetings, and was responsible for everyday matters.

Last dance and death

Today's story is about the greatest Russian ballerina, not just a star, but a treasure of the world ballet stage, Anna Pavlova. This is a dancer who turned the world of Russian ballet upside down - it was with her that a new era of sensuality and sophistication in ballet began. Everything artificial and feigned faded into the background, the soul became higher than the race for mastery. Before Anna Pavlova appeared, Russian ballet was dominated by the era of Italian dancers who were engaged abroad. Their dancing was as bombastic as it was virtuosic. Anna Pavlova broke this tradition not only with impeccable choreography, but also with the endless sincerity of her dance.
Little is known about Anna Pavlova’s personal life - she published a book of memoirs, but we learn almost nothing about the dancer’s life from this narrative: it is entirely devoted to art. Pavlova was born in February 1881 in the family of a simple washerwoman Lyubov Fedorovna Pavlova, but it is assumed that she was the illegitimate daughter of a rather wealthy merchant Lazar Polyakov. This is precisely what can explain the fact that her mother was able to pay for her studies at the Imperial Ballet School, where Anechka entered with difficulty - they did not want to take her because of her poor health. The girl was born seven months old and suffered from anemia, frequent colds and excessive stooping. However, the famous Marius Petipa already saw the young talent and was not mistaken.

Anna devoted herself entirely to her studies; she was not afraid of the difficult learning conditions, nor the long hours of training, nor numerous prohibitions, nor separation from her family - she was born for ballet and dreamed only of it. There are legends about Pavlova's self-denial - she went on stage with a fever, sick, exhausted, with sprained ligaments, and in America she even performed with a broken leg.

After graduating from college, Anna was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, and in 1906 she became the leading ballerina of the troupe. Anna also had an idol - Maria Taglioni, an Italian dancer, whom Pavlova looked up to and who inspired her to creativity and hard work. Did Anya know how much she would surpass her inspiration?

His most famous part - a choreographic miniature Dying Swan, choreographed by Fokine, she first performed in 1907. Later, this production will become an undisputed symbol of Russian ballet.

In 1910, Pavlova left the Mariinsky Theater and created her own troupe, which successfully toured abroad extensively. After 1914, Anna moved to live in England and never returned to Russia. She casts her lot with the scandalous Russian lawyer Victor Dandre. Their relationship is mysterious and hidden in a veil of secrecy. Some sources believe that Victor suffered from the antics and whims of the famous dancer, but humbly endured them, being endlessly in love. Others claim that he was an incredible dictator, did not spare the ballerina’s health and strength, and being not only Pavlova’s life partner, but also Pavlova’s impresario, he organized incredibly busy tours - it happened that concerts followed one after another every day without days off for months! What really happened, who was to blame for such a grueling tour schedule: the ballerina herself or her merciless companion, it seems, we will no longer know.

Anna Pavlova died in Holland, during a tour, on January 23, 1931, from acute pleurisy: on the way from France she caught a severe cold and also received a significant bruise to her chest. Doctors recommended immediate surgery, but for some reason the operation was postponed, and on January 19, Anna Pavlova gave her last concert in The Hague, being very weak. Who initiated the cancellation of the operation—the ballerina herself or her companion Victor—remained unknown.

“She doesn’t dance, but flies through the air,” wrote the St. Petersburg newspaper “Slovo” about the greatest ballerina of the last century, Anna Pavlova. Having become a legend during her lifetime, she did an extraordinary amount to ensure that the fame of Russian ballet spread throughout the world.

Pavlova rethought the danced roles and retained the charm of romanticism. Her style of performance gave a new stage in the history of Russian ballet. Classical ballet, which almost died, acquires modernity, and therefore eternal value. Her interpretation of Giselle, Nikia, and Odette, different from other dancers, was adopted by subsequent generations. Therefore, it was on the Russian stage that the undying, eternal that was inherent in Anna Pavlovna Pavlova was preserved. On her birthday, we invite you to consider some unusual facts from the biography of the great ballerina.

Charm with ballet

It seems that Anna Pavlova has always danced. It’s as if she was born, already fascinated by ballet. But true love for ballet came only after seeing a morning performance of The Sleeping Beauty at the age of nine. Interestingly, this was the premiere of the play staged by Petipa. Ballet made such a strong impression on Pavlova that, naturally shy and soft, she for the first time expressed her firm will to choose a career as a ballet dancer. You can imagine how many girls who also came to the performance said: “When I grow up, I will dance like Princess Aurora!” And only one will keep her word.

Anna Pavlova's shoes

Anna Pavlovna had difficulty finding ordinary shoes. Therefore, she always carried with her a suitcase for 36 pairs, which was periodically replenished with new ones. Old shoes were given away.

I had the same problem with ballet shoes. Anna Pavlova preferred to order it from the famous Italian master Romeo Nicolini. The ballerina was very attentive to ballet shoes, because the success of a particular pirouette depended on its quality and comfort. Therefore, shoes often had to be remade. One day Nicolini even said: “Yes, it’s a great honor that Anna Pavlova is my customer. But if I had two Pavlovas, I would die.”

Surprisingly, in the time of Anna Pavlova, pointe shoes as such did not exist. This was explained by the fact that the dance technique was somewhat simpler than it is now. Therefore, the shape of dance shoes was closer to ballroom shoes, but, of course, without heels. They were softer than modern shoes, fine workmanship, and distinguished by grace. But this does not mean that ballerinas used to dance on tiptoes. They learned to sort of hover and maintain balance on their fingertips. For this purpose, sometimes the toe of a ballet shoe could be stitched for greater stability of the ballerina.

Pavlova and Diaghilev

Many are sure that it was Diaghilev who revealed Pavlov to the world. But that's not true. Anna Pavlova had already danced in Sweden, Denmark and Germany a year before the “Russian Seasons” appeared. Moreover, it was Pavlova who suggested that Diaghilev include ballet in the opera season (the first “Russian Seasons” were exclusively operatic). Diaghilev initially did not believe that Europeans, and especially Parisians, would like Russian ballet. Diaghilev did not agree for a long time, but after the approval of a certain committee, he finally decided to try to include ballet in the Seasons. It is worth noting that at that time the condition for showing Russian ballet in Paris was the arrival of Anna Pavlova as part of Diaghilev’s troupe.

Pavlova and Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin was a big fan of Anna Pavlova. “You and I are alike, Anna! – Chaplin once said. - I am a tramp, you are a sylph. Who needs us? So they are persecuting us...”

They first met at a banquet given in honor of Anna Pavlova. Chaplin, addressing the dancer, said that the English language cannot convey the feelings that he feels for her and express the greatness that Pavlova represents. Therefore, he intends to speak Chinese. With these words, Chaplin, imitating Chinese speech, went into a rage, and kissed Pavlova’s hand. And so their friendship began. Later, Charlie Chaplin acted as Anna Pavlova's consultant when recording her performances on film.

Charity of Anna Pavlova

During the First World War, wherever Anna Pavlova visited, performances were staged to benefit the Red Cross. At the end of the war, she gave concerts at the Metropolitan Opera and used all the proceeds to send parcels of food to the St. Petersburg and Moscow schools. Later she began to send money to Russia to distribute to needier artists of the St. Petersburg and Moscow troupes.

In Paris, Anna Pavlova decided to set up a shelter for Russian children who were left orphans. She ended up organizing a women's shelter in Saint-Cloud. Now most of the money raised from performances went to shelter needs. Anna Pavlova was concerned not only with ensuring that the girls had shelter, but also that they received an education, practical training for life, and, upon leaving the orphanage, a job. All the girls studied either in a Russian gymnasium or in French colleges. Pavlova gave each person the freedom to choose a specialty.

Portrait of Anna Pavlova

Many people mistakenly think that Anna Pavlova in her famous number “The Dying Swan” was inspired by the grace of her swan. This is not so, because the number was staged long before the appearance of her favorite. And initially the dance was called simply “Swan”, and only a few years later the epithet “dying” appeared.

An unusually deserted scene. There is no corps de ballet, no scenery. No orchestra. There are no chords for the opening variation. A mercilessly harsh, concert light flashes. The dancer stands in the far corner of the stage, head down, arms crossed. After one measure of the harp's entry, with the first sound of the cello, she rises on her fingers and quietly and sadly floats across the stage.

Fokine put the theme of lyrical peace into the number. The dance itself was music. It was a monologue. And even though the Swan still died in the end, his death was peaceful.

But the appearance of the Swan changes with the advent of war and revolutions. Anna Pavlova, penetrating souls with her dance, seemed to absorb their response. Gradually, Lebed's lyricism became tinged with tragedy. The meaning of the movements changed. The gait of the legs became more intense, the turns of the head and body were more sharply indicated. The winged arms rose, fell, and suddenly pressed against the chest, where the ruby ​​now glowed bloodily in the white plumage. The face was bent on the chest.

Ksenia Timoshkina

Ballerina, posters for which were drawn by Valentin Serov himself. The main person of the Russian Seasons in Paris. The most mysterious dancer of the twentieth century.

A biography, the authenticity of which was known only to the ballerina herself. Matveevna or Pavlovna? The daughter of a retired soldier of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Matvey Pavlov, or a major Moscow banker, Lazar Polyakov? The great dancer wrote an autobiography, but more and more not about the fact that she was born in the dacha village of Ligovo near St. Petersburg, and her childhood, the main impression of which was trips to the Mariinsky Theater. Anna Pavlova wrote about the main thing in her life - a revived inspiration, whose name is ballet.

Nine-year-old Anya seemed to wake up after the premiere of The Sleeping Beauty staged by Petipa. Shy and soft by nature, the girl almost for the first time expressed a firm decision - to devote her life to dance.

Hunched back, anemia, fragile health. The Imperial Ballet School could not have imagined that this “delicate flower” would survive the harsh ballet school. “Fluff, lightness, wind,” said the famous Marius Petipa at the screening. The commission enrolled the girl, and she became a favorite student of teachers Ekaterina Vazem and Alexander Oblakov. Ekaterina Ottovna gave her fish oil and achieved strong legs and “talking” hands.

“One is born a dancer. No teacher can create a miracle, no years of training can make a good dancer out of a mediocre student. One can acquire certain technical skills, but no one can ever “acquire exceptional talent.” I never consoled myself with the fact that I had an unusually gifted student. Pavlova has one teacher - God."

George Balanchine

The first appearance on the Mariinsky stage was already in the second year of study in divertissements and small variations. Anna Pavlova was inferior in technique to Matilda Kshesinskaya, Olga Preobrazhenskaya, and Tamara Karsavina. But in jumps and arabesques with unpredictable improvisation, the fragile ballerina had no equal.

The graduation performance became a ticket to the big stage. Almost immediately, Pavlova received solo roles in The Sleeping Beauty, Esmeralda, and Giselle. The young ballerina worked with Marius Petipa, who so favorably accepted her first public performance - in front of the selection committee.

Anna Pavlova. Photo: marieclaire.ru

Anna Pavlova in the ballet La Sylphide. Photo: radikal.ru

Anna Pavlova. Photo: images.aif.ru

The aspiring artist was not afraid to argue with the master. In the ballet “Vain Precaution”, Pavlova suggested that Petipa replace the usual crinoline skirt with a tunic below the ankle and received consent. “This was courage on my part: custom has not allowed any liberties with a skirt since the time of the most famous Camargo - Voltaire’s favorite!” - the ballerina later recalled.

“Pavlova is a cloud hovering above the earth,” the press wrote. And the dancer just amazed me again and again. She seemed to float across the stage in her most poignant role. Swan. The image that gave the ballerina immortality. Choreographer Nikolai Fokin staged the miniature to the music of Saint-Saëns. Literally impromptu. Anna turned serenity into tragedy. The untimely death of a graceful creature, and like a wound - a ruby ​​brooch.

“The charm of her personality was so great that no matter what dance Pavlova appeared in, she made an indelible impression on the audience. This, to a certain extent, explains the fact that her repertoire consisted of performances in which there was nothing innovative. Pavlova did not set out to create something sensational - she herself was a sensation, although she was hardly aware of it.”

Lavrenty Novikov, scene partner

“Madam, thanks to you, I realized that I wrote wonderful music!” - Saint-Saëns exclaimed when he saw the Dying Swan. The dance became a symbol of the Russian seasons, and Anna Pavlova in the image of the Swan by Valentin Serov became the emblem of a world-famous enterprise. It took the artist 11 sessions to create the famous poster. The ballerina froze in an arabesque almost every minute so that the painter would catch the fleeting movement and convey it on paper.

The European public was able to appreciate the similarities thanks, again, to Pavlova. It was at the suggestion of the already recognized ballerina that Diaghilev added ballet to opera performances in the Russian Seasons. The impresario doubted that the French would like Russian ballet art. But with the light hand of Pavlova, whose participation in the tour was separately stipulated in the contract, the ballet nevertheless became an integral part of the Seasons.

The last time the public at the Mariinsky Theater saw Pavlova perform was in 1913; a year later she settled in England. During the First World War, the ballerina gave performances in favor of the Red Cross, and in the post-war years she sent proceeds from performances at the Metropolitan Opera to Russia for needy artists in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

“How I always regretted that I could not sketch her dancing! It was something unique. She simply lived in it, there is no other way to say it. She was the very soul of the dance. But it’s unlikely that the soul can be expressed in words!”

Natalia Trukhanova, ballerina

The world received the great ballerina not only as part of the Russian seasons. Anna Pavlova and her troupe brought classical ballet to the most remote corners of the world: Egypt, China, Japan, Burma, the Philippines, proving throughout her life that love for art knows no boundaries.

The Dutch developed a variety of tulips in honor of Anna Pavlova, the Mexicans threw sombreros at their feet as a sign of admiration, the Indians showered them with lotus flowers, in Australia they named a cake after the amazing dancer, in the Netherlands - one of the airplanes. The sophisticated Russian ballerina dictated style to European fashionistas. A la Pavlova: exquisite satin and Manila shawls with tassels. But there is a unique image...

“Get my Swan costume ready!” - according to legend, the last words of the great Anna Pavlova. The ballerina died in The Hague, although all her life she wanted to live “somewhere in Russia.”