42 Facts About Anna Pavlova

1.

Anna Pavlova was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev.

2.

Anna Matveyevna Pavlova was born in the Preobrazhensky Regiment hospital, Saint Petersburg where her father, Matvey Pavlovich Pavlov, served.

3.

Anna Pavlova Matveyevna changed her patronymic to Pavlovna when she started performing on stage.

4.

Anna Pavlova was a premature child, regularly felt ill and was sent to the Ligovo village where her grandmother looked after her.

5.

Anna Pavlova appeared for the first time on stage in Petipa's Un conte de fees, which the ballet master staged for the students of the school.

6.

Anna Pavlova's severely arched feet, thin ankles, and long limbs clashed with the small, compact body favoured for the ballerina of the time.

7.

Anna Pavlova graduated in 1899 at age 18, chosen to enter the Imperial Ballet a rank ahead of corps de ballet as a coryphee.

8.

Anna Pavlova made her official debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in Pavel Gerdt's Les Dryades pretendues.

9.

Anna Pavlova's performance drew praise from the critics, particularly the great critic and historian Nikolai Bezobrazov.

10.

Anna 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.

11.

Anna Pavlova tried desperately to imitate the renowned Pierina Legnani, Prima ballerina assoluta of the Imperial Theaters.

12.

Anna Pavlova rose through the ranks quickly, becoming a favorite of the old maestro Petipa.

13.

Anna Pavlova was named danseuse in 1902, premiere danseuse in 1905, and, finally, prima ballerina in 1906 after a resounding performance in Giselle.

14.

Anna Pavlova was much celebrated by the fanatical balletomanes of Tsarist Saint Petersburg, her legions of fans calling themselves the Pavlovatzi.

15.

Kschessinska, not wanting to be upstaged, was certain Anna Pavlova would fail in the role, as she was considered technically inferior because of her small ankles and lithe legs.

16.

Anna Pavlova is perhaps most renowned for creating the role of The Dying Swan, a solo choreographed for her by Michel Fokine.

17.

Anna Pavlova choreographed several solos herself, one of which is The Dragonfly, a short ballet set to music by Fritz Kreisler.

18.

All her life, Anna Pavlova preferred the melodious "musique dansante" of the old maestros such as Cesare Pugni and Ludwig Minkus, and cared little for anything else which strayed from the salon-style ballet music of the 19th century.

19.

Anna Pavlova traveled everywhere in the world that travel was possible, and introduced the ballet to millions who had never seen any form of Western dancing.

20.

Anna Pavlova performed many 'ethnic' dances, some of which she learned from local teachers during her travels.

21.

In 1928, Anna Pavlova engaged St Petersburg conductor Efrem Kurtz to accompany her dancing, which he did until her death in 1931.

22.

Nordi kept Anna Pavlova's flame burning in London, well into the 1970s, where she tutored hundreds of pupils including many ballet stars.

23.

Between 1912 and 1926, Anna Pavlova made almost annual tours of the United States, traveling from coast to coast.

24.

Anna Pavlova roused America as no one had done since Elssler.

25.

Anna 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.

26.

Anna Pavlova died on 5 February 1944 and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes placed below those of Anna.

27.

Fifteen girls were adopted into a home Anna Pavlova purchased near Paris at Saint-Cloud, overseen by the Comtesse de Guerne and supported by her performances and funds solicited by Anna Pavlova, including many small donations from members of the Camp Fire Girls of America, who made her an honorary member.

28.

Anna Pavlova sent to Paris for her personal physician, Dr Zalewski, to attend her.

29.

Anna Pavlova was told that she had pneumonia and required an operation.

30.

Anna Pavlova was told that she would never be able to dance again if she went ahead with it.

31.

Victor Dandre wrote that Anna Pavlova died a half hour past midnight on Friday, 23 January 1931, with her maid Marguerite Letienne, Dr Zalevsky, and himself at her bedside.

32.

Anna Pavlova was cremated, and her ashes placed in a columbarium at Golders Green Crematorium, where her urn was adorned with her ballet shoes.

33.

The most recent attempt to move Anna Pavlova's remains to Russia came in 2001.

34.

Anna Pavlova inspired the choreographer Frederick Ashton, who as a boy of 13, saw her dance in the Municipal Theater in Lima, Peru.

35.

Anna Pavlova's dances inspired many artworks of the Irish painter John Lavery.

36.

The Jarabe Tapatio, known in English as the "Mexican Hat Dance", gained popularity outside of Mexico when Anna Pavlova created a staged version in pointe shoes, for which she was showered with hats by her adoring Mexican audiences.

37.

Anna Pavlova appears as a character, played by Maria Tallchief, in the 1952 film Million Dollar Mermaid.

38.

Anna Pavlova appears as a character in Rosario Ferre's novel of 2001, Flight of the Swan.

39.

Anna Pavlova appears as a character in the fourth episode of the British series Mr Selfridge, played by real-life ballerina Natalia Kremen.

40.

Anna Pavlova's feet were extremely arched, so she strengthened her pointe shoe by adding a piece of hard leather on the soles for support and flattening the box of the shoe.

41.

Anna Pavlova's solution became, over time, the precursor of the modern pointe shoe, as pointe work became less painful and easier for curved feet.

42.

Anna Pavlova is included in some of the other notated choreographies when she participated in performances as a soloist.