Anna Pavlova

One of the great figures of early twentieth-century ballet, Anna Pavlova was born in St. Petersburg and brought up by an impoverished single mother. Gaining entrance to the Imperial School of Ballet in 1891, perhaps with the help of her biological father, the Russian Jewish banker Lazar Polyakov, she went on the join the Imperial Ballet company in 1899 and became prima ballerina in 1906. Pavlova had a great deal of success touring across Europe during the following several years. She performed in Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in 1909, although she never joined his company. After leaving the Imperial Ballet in 1913 she formed her own company that toured across the globe. Among Pavlova’s signature roles were the role of prima ballerina in The Dying Swan (a ballet written by Michel Fokine for her in 1907), Bacchanale, Sleeping Beauty, and Giselle. She died while on tour in the Netherlands.