Ballet Archives

Photo Credit: Anna Pavlova with Hubert Stowitts in La Peri, Buenos Aires, 1919 from Anna Pavlova Her Life And Art by Keith Money Anna Pavlova was a visionary who thought outside the box. She was a risk-taker too, which usually brought excellent results for her and her company, but her unconventional thoughts or ideas didn't always match the views and opinions of some of her peers in her time. One idea she had she even thought some would find too strange or radical, but she wanted to try this experiment one day, and that was to have a ballet be done without music. She talked about this idea in an interview with the press mentioned here. "No doubt should I or somebody else decide upon presenting a ballet without the musical accompaniment the idea would be greeted with derision. But it would be an interesting experiment, making every man and woman his or her own composer, and if the dancers possessed the necessary talent it would be well worth while. I am planning to try the expe...

  Photo Credit: Anna Pavlova in the 'Fire Bird" costume (Blue Bird pas de deux) from Anna Pavlova Her Life And Art by Keith Money Anna Pavlova was in the headlines again, but this time on her personal view on musicality in dancing which shocked many because she believed a dancer constantly thought about time and when to come in on the right beat. In her words, this impacts the dancer's dancing. However, she saw having rhythmic instinct as different. Feeling the rhythm by instinct with your entire body, soul, and very being of a dancer was vital to dancing. Without rhythm, the dancing wouldn't work because there would be no self-expression felt in the dancing by the dancer, and the audience wouldn't feel that emotional connection with the dancer and what they were trying to convey in the dance. Anna Pavlova describes this very topic in an interview that created headlines at the time. "Time is a simple matter. It consists merely in keeping track of the beat, whi...

Photo Credit: Anna Pavlova leaving Vancouver in 1922 from Anna Pavlova Her Life And Art by Keith Money An article by a critic in Chicago appeared at the end of March 1922 with the headline "Anna Pavlova Rises to Defend Maligned Golosh from Critics." The critic wrote in this article that the American girl was becoming ungainly because, as the critic said, a male dancer in Chicago said so but Anna Pavlova who the critic named in the article refuses to believe it. The critic regarded this dancer as the greatest male dancer. He even went on to say that because American girls wore goloshes, also known as rubber boots were as he's quoting the dancer saying, "He says goloshes are giving our girls big feet and destroying the rhythm of their once charming walk." He even went on agreeing with the male dancer, saying that the women having bare knees caused them to be ungraceful." Anna Pavlova found it utterly ridiculous what the critic was saying and the male dancer, ...

  Photo Credit: John Bull's exaggerated view of the Raymonda adagio scene with Pavlova and Novikov from Anna Pavlova Her Life And Art By Keith Money  Pavlova was so used to having the occasional spat with her dance partners she saw it as usual. The English audience saw it as part of the entertainment, so this occasional drama fascinated people to come to the ballet for that very reason. In the ballet called  Raymonda,  Anna Pavlova was dancing with her dance partner Laurent Novikov; During the beginning of the ballet's adagio, Novikov's foot got too close to Pavlova's heel, stepping on her foot and drawing blood. For Pavlova to avoid having to stop dancing, she struck him on the shoulder while turning. Novikov walked off the stage and into the wings of the theater. Pavlova had no choice but to do the same.  The orchestra continued to play for an empty stage. The audience waited while sitting on the edge of their seats to see what would happen in the ballet next...