Anna Pavlova

[historywriter]

Hello everyone,

Can anyone recommend a good bio of this great Russian ballerina please?  I love to read about ballerinas because I went to ballet classes when I was little!

Best,

Lisa

[s.v.markov]

Try 'Anna Pavlova : Her Life and Art' by Keith Money (Collins, 1982), or Oleg Kerensky's 'Anna Pavlova' (Hamish Hamilton, 1973).   Also, there are lots of references to her relationship with Kschessinska in Coryne Hall's 'Imperial Dancer' (Sutton, 2005), and more general books like 'The Great Russian Dancers' by Gennady Smakov (Knopf 1984) will also have a section on her I should think.

[historywriter]

Hello S.V.,

Thank you so much for providing a list of books for me.  I have bought 'Imperial Dancer' and when I have some more room I will buy one of the books about Anna Pavlova.  Now if only I could go to the Bolshoi or the Kirov...

Best Regards,

Lisa

www.webwritereditor.com
www.bookaddiction.blogspot.com

[Elisabeth]

Hi, Lisa, it's so nice to meet another Pavlova fan! If you can find it, there's another good book about Pavlova by V. Svetloff, translated from the Russian by A. Grey, that was published by Dover Books back in 1974. What's special about this book is that it has 75 illustrations - mainly black and white photographs - of Pavlova from childhood through her years as prima ballerina to the very end of her life. It's a beautiful book but unfortunately it's probably out of print by now, I don't know.  I received it as a birthday present as a child and it is one of my most treasured ballet books.

[Glebb]

There are a few film snippets of Pavlova dancing.
Didn't Charlie Chaplin film her?
Gorgeous feet and she was a huge influence on Sir Frederick Ashton.
I so wish I could see film of Kschessinksa dancing.

[ferngully]

[historywriter]

Hello Elisabeth, Glebb and Ferngully,

Thank you very much for your help and the lovely photo of Anna Pavlova.  I have seen film clips of Pavlova - the one in which she dances her famous dying swan is especially beautiful and it is easy to see why she was considered such a great ballerina.  

I bought a book recently called 'My Years with Pavlova' by H. Algeranoff.  He was an English ballet dancer who danced in her company.  

It is an interesting book, describing the many places that Pavlova toured, and it gives a fascinating insight into Australia at that time.  I couldn't part with it but it doesn't say very much about Pavlova herself and I didn't think that it was very well-written, considering that the subject matter is so interesting.

I am buying 'Imperial Dancer' soon and looking forward to reading that.  Also I am going to read Margot Fonteyn's biography some time soon.

Best Regards,

Lisa

[Glebb]

In 1970 when I was a summer student at SAB, I had a teacher named Muriel Stuart who danced with Pavlova's company. Don't take this for absolute fact but from what I've heard through my years in the profession is that she did have those balletically perfect legs and feet, but her technique was not great.  I can tell from the film clips of her in "The Magical Fairy Doll" that she danced turned in. But she is reported to have been extraordinarily theatrical, magical and beautiful on stage.  It was more about her performance than technique (and I have no problem with that btw).  I've seen a filmed interview of Sir Fredrerick Ashton in which he speaks about her with great animation.  
I would kill to see clips of Nijinsky, Karsavina and Spessivtseva.

[Terentieva]

oooh so would i Glebb