Ballet Archives

Rosella Hightower 1940   Rosella Hightower was born January 10, 1920 in Durwood, Oklahoma and she was of Choctaw (Native American descent) and Irish Descent.  She saw the Ballet Russes as a young child and afterwards, like many ballerinas, was bewitched by the dance and wanted to make it her life’s work. Hightower’s Aunt believed her Niece's yearning for ballet was something special so she persuaded Rosella's Mother to let her take ballet classes. Rosella's Aunt helped her find a ballet teacher and her Mother saw how passionate her daughter was about ballet. She took as many ballet classes as she could and with a variety of teachers so she could learn as many ballet techniques as possible, which made her a stronger dancer. Rosella Hightower received and immediately accepted an invitation from Leonide Massine, the company owner of the ballet Russes de Monte Carlo and lead choreographer. After sailing across the globe to join his company, she got a rude awakening; realizing t

Cleo de Merode- (1897) Cleo de Merode with dance dress-Reutlinger (1901)   French Ballet Dancer Cleo de Merode was born on September 27, 1875 as Cleopatre Diane de Merode. She was of French, Austrian, German, Greek and Macedonian descent. Merode studied ballet from the age of eight and was on stage making her professional debut at only eleven years old. At the age of twenty one, her image could be found on postcards and playing cards. She was famous internationally and performed across Europe and the United States. She was particularly popular in Austria and Germany. Not only was she popular for dancing but she was also popular for her fashion style, so much so, Parisian women began to emulate her hairstyles.  Cleo de Merode’s beauty was well known and so some people were jealous of her. Some of the jealous people spread spiteful and hurtful gossip about her. One of the rumors was concerning King Leopold II, of Belgium. The gossip spread that he had two children from an affair with a w

(Olga Sapphire (center) with Japanese Theater Dance Group.  Tokyo. 1936.) Russian Ballet companies went on world tours often and one of the countries they went to on the tour was Japan. Japan was extremely enthusiastic about ballet and the dancers and they even had ballet critics who wrote about the different ballets. The ballet dancers themselves were fascinated by Japan, just as Japan was fascinated by ballet. Prima Ballerina Elena Smirnova husband’s ballet company was the first Russian Ballet Company that toured Japan. In 1916, Smirnova was one of the few ballerinas who danced at the Imperial Theater in Tokyo, Japan. She received amazing praise in Japan.  Prima Ballerina, Olga Sapphire or her Japanese name Midori Shimizu, was a Russian Prima Ballerina in both Russia and Japan. She also was a choreographer and ballet teacher in Japan. In 1936, she moved to Japan with her husband Takehisa Shimizu, who was a Japanese diplomat living in Russia. The Japanese Ambassador suggested to Sapp

  Did you know Ravi Shankar’s Brother was a ballet dancer? Famous musician Ravi Shankar had many brothers but one of his brothers was named Uday Shankar. He was a ballet dancer for The Prima Ballerina, Anna Pavlova’s Ballet company.  Shankar was discovered while attending the Royal College of Art and he was referred to Pavlova by an Indian composer named Commalata Bannerjee, a colleague of Pavlova. Anna Pavlova was told about a dancer named Uday Shankar. When she saw Shankar dance and how he connected to rhythm like herself; she saw potential in Shankar. Shankar taught Anna Pavlova traditional Indian dances and she learned about and Indian culture while on her trip to India. She fell in love with Indian culture and wanted to incorporate Indian Dance in her ballet but also be respectful to the culture. Anna Pavlova asked Shankar to be her dance partner in her ballet. The Ballet was called Krishna and Radha. Shankar helped Pavlova connect with the audience, showing her that the dancers w

  Just imagine Anna Pavlova thought she didn't have ballerina's feet. Anna Pavlova had what is known in ballet terminology as grecian feet, particularly, long toes where the second toe is longer than the big toe along with high arches. For this reason, she was extremely particular in the way her pointe shoes were made. Every detail of her ballet shoe was tailor-made so that she could dance comfortably for a long time and avoid injuries to her feet. Anna Pavlova was like any modern woman at the time and believed having good shoes was a necessity and not a luxury. Reporters seemed to write as if they assumed having well fitting shoes was a luxury, which is revealed in the journalist's critical, if not rude words.  "She says herself her feet are not right for a ballet dancer. Her toes are too long, the instep too high. These are great handicaps, overcome only by long practice... All her shoes are made by a Milan specialist to fit her plaster casts, tracings, and diagrams.

  Did you know the first ballet Anna Pavlova saw as a child was Sleeping Beauty?  When Anna Pavlova was a child, her mother worked as a laundress. She saved enough money to take her daughter to see the Sleeping Beauty Ballet at the Mariinsky Theater, which she fondly called fairyland. Anna’s mother didn't know how much seeing the ballet would impact her daughter. After Anna Pavlova attended the Sleeping Beauty ballet it was love at first sight, she decided that her dream and her life’s goal was to become a ballerina.  Anna told her mother she wanted to enroll in The Imperial Ballet School. Her mother was concerned Anna was too fragile and she was concerned about the rigor and thoroughness of the school's teaching.  Anna did not want to give up and she pestered her mother about going to the school from morning to evening until her mother finally gave in. Unfortunately, Anna Pavlova was disappointed when she was refused entry into the school because she was not yet ten years; a p

  Hello and Welcome to Ballet Archives This is a blog about historical ballet dancers and their stories. I have a passion for both ballet and history and I noticed there wasn't very much out there on ballet dancer history, so I wanted to create it, hence this blog. I hope you will enjoy going on a journey and learning about the amazing ballet dancers from the past! “Dancing is my gift and my life… God gave me this gift to bring delight to others. That is why I was born. I am haunted by the need to dance. It is the same to me whether I am rehearsing in my own room at home, or on the empty darkened stage, or facing an audience across the footlights… When I dance, I am not conscious of my body. I feel I am one with the dance. It is though I were caught up by the magical rhythm, that I am all rhythm, part of that greater rhythm which animates life itself. It is my life. I know of no other. It is the purest expression of every emotion, earthly and spiritual. It is happiness.”- Anna Pavl