Ann Pavlova

for the huge porject we are doing in perfroming arts we have to do a lot of research into ballet. While i was researching the history of ballet the name Ann Pavlova came up a lot so i decided to do some work on her.

Ann Pavlova

One of ballets most famous dancers is Ann Pavlova. She was born in Russia during 1882 and died in 1931. She is still today classed as one of the finest classical dancers ever. She became the first ballet dancer to tour the world.

Ann fell in love with the dance style at a very young age after watching an amateur production of ‘the sleeping beauty’. At just eight years old Ann auditioned for the ‘imperial ballet school’ however she was not offered a place due to her age and ‘sickly’ appearance. Ann continued to improve her dancing and auditioned again two years later and was offered a place at the school.

Ann struggled greatly through her training. She had arched feet, long limbs and a short body a physic considered wrong for a ballet dancer. She was teased for her appearance and the fact she had to try much harder to perfect the moves that came easily to others. Her passion for ballet meant she took extra lessons to make sure she was as good as she could be. Her determination and hard work did eventually pay off as she graduated at 18 after spending her final year as the lead in many different shows.

 

Ann went on to perform in many different ballets after leaving school. However her ‘wrong’ body type and weak ankles meant she struggled to perform as a fairy in ‘the sleeping beauty’. She desperately tried to imitate the famous ballet dancer of her generation Pierinna Legnani but her efforts just made her dance teacher angry at her. He was said to have yelled...
 ‘Leave acrobatics to others. It is positively more than I can bear to see the pressure such steps put on your delicate muscles and the severe arch of your foot. I beg you to never again try to imitate those who are physically stronger than you. You must realize that your daintiness and fragility are your greatest assets. You should always do the kind of dancing which brings out your own rare qualities instead of trying to win praise by mere acrobatic tricks."    After witnessing this outburst from her teacher Ann began to dance in a slightly different way, adapting moves to suit her capabilities. This meant more people took notice of her and she rose to fame quickly during 1902 after getting the role of ‘the pharaoh’s daughter’ in ‘Paquita’
                                                 
Ann had very rigid feet and found that if she strengthened her Pointe show by adding hard wood on the soles she could get much more support. This adaptation to her shoe was considered cheating because at this time the principle of Pointe was to teach dancers that they alone must hold their body on Pointe and not their shoes. This was almost impossible for Ann as the shape of her feet meant most of her weight fell onto her little toes. It took time but eventually curved feet ballet dancers realized this was a much less painful way to achieve Pointe and the same sort of shoe is still used today.
Ann founded her own company and choreographed routines for herself. Her dance skill and chorographic knowledge lead to glowing reviews from critics.
 
Ann died young just three weeks before her 50^th birthday. Ann was told she had pneumonia and would have to undergo surgery that would mean she could never dance again. Ann refused surgery saying ‘if I can’t dance I might as well be dead’. Following ballet tradition, at the next performance Ann was scheduled to perform at after her death, a single spotlight moved around the stage representing where Ann would be dancing.