Alicia Markova
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Dame Alicia Markova, DBE, DMus, MusD, DUniv, (1 December 1910, Finsbury Park, London – 2 December 2004, Bath, Somerset) was an English dancer, teacher, choreographer and director. She was the first British dancer to become the Principal Ballerina of a ballet company, the first British dancer to be bestowed the title of Prima Ballerina Assoluta and is widely considered to be one of the greatest classical ballet dancers in history. She was a founder dancer of The Royal Ballet and was co-founder of the English National Ballet, a leading European ballet company based in London.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early Years
Markova was born Lilian Alicia Marks on 1 December 1910. Her father Alfred was Jewish and her mother Eileen was a convert to Judaism.[1] They lived in a two bedroom flat in the Finsbury Park district of London.
Markova began to dance on medical advice to strengthen her weak limbs and began studying ballet with Princess Serafina Astafieva, a Russian ballerina living in London. Astafieva was a retired dancer of the Ballets Russes, a renowned ballet company founded by the impresario Serge Diaghilev. She established the Russian Dancing Academy at The Pheasantry on King's Road in Chelsea and was responsible for teaching a number of notable British dancers including Marie Rambert, Margot Fonteyn and Anton Dolin. A blue plaque now marks the site of her former studio.
Markova made her stage debut at the age of 10, performing the role of Salome in the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat, for which she was billed as Little Alicia, the child Pavlova.
[edit] Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
At the age of 13, Markova was observed in class by the Russian ballet impressario Serge Diaghilev who was visiting London in search of new talent for his ballet company. He invited her to join the Ballets Russes in Monte Carlo, which she did in 1925, one month after her 14th birthday. Due to her young age, she performed a number of roles which were specially choreographed for her, also performing in a varied repertoire of new and established ballets. Alongside the many notable dancers, during this period she encountered a number of leading 20th century figures who created work for the company including the artsts Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, composers including Igor Stravinsky and Serge Prokofiev and a number of leading choreographers including Léonide Massine, George Balanchine, and Bronislava Nijinska.
Markova appears in the documentary Ballets Russes.
[edit] After Diaghilev
Following the death of Diaghilev in 1929, Markova returned to England where she became the founder Principal Ballerina of The Ballet Club, a company founded by Dame Marie Rambert. During this period, she was particularly noted for performing works by Sir Frederick Ashton, who was unknown at the time, but would go on to become one of Britain's most celebrated choreographers. The Ballet Club was to be the first professional ballet company in the United Kingdom, later becoming known as the Ballet Rambert. Now known as the Rambert Dance Company, it remains the oldest established dance company in the UK.
In 1931, Dame Ninette de Valois founded the Vic-Wells Ballet in premises at Sadler's Wells theatre in London. A former colleague from Diaghilev's company, she invited Markova to join the company as one of its founder dancers, which she did, forming a famous partnership with Sir Anton Dolin. de Valois also hired Frederick Ashton, who became the resident choreographer and later Artistic Director of the company. In 1933, de Valois appointed Markova as the first Prima Ballerina of the company, which is now the internationally renowned Royal Ballet.
In 1935, Markova and Dolin left the Vic-Wells ballet to form their own touring company known as the Markova-Dolin Company. The company toured extensively for two seasons and in 1936 Prince Wolkonsky joined the company as ballet master. Later in 1938 Markova joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, touring the world as the companies star ballerina. The company was the first to tour ballet throughout the United States, taking the art form to audiences who had previously never seen ballet before. During this time, she was also a key figure in the formation of today's American Ballet Theatre, dancing with the company during it's early years and further establishing her reputation as one of the world's most famous ballerinas of all time.
Markova appeared in ballets around the world, but is remembered mostly for her Giselle, as well as for The Dying Swan and Les Sylphides. During the Second World War she re-formed Les Ballets Russes in the United States and also appeared in Hollywood films.
The audiences loved the little English ballerina, and she was called 'The miniature Pavlova,' and 'The best dancer ever to live'.
[edit] English National Ballet
In 1950, Markova and Dolin became the co-founders of the Festival Ballet, a company formed to celebrate the imminent Festival of Britain and backed by the Polish businessman Julian Brunsweg. Dolin was to be the companies first Artistic Director, with Markova as Prima Ballerina. The company was formed to tour ballets to audiences that would otherwise be unable to experience ballet and would go on to tour extensively to less conventional venues both in the United Kingdom and internationally. It would also establish a number of educational programes designed to make ballet accessible to new audiences. Markova remained the Prima ballerina of the company until 1952 after which she continued to appear regularly as a guest dancer until her retirement from professional dancing. In 1989, the Festival Ballet was renamed English National Ballet to reflect the company's role as Britain's only classical ballet company dedicated to touring ballets nationwide at an affordable price for audiences.
[edit] Retirement
Markova retired from professional dancing in January 1963 at the age of 53. Following her retirement, she continued to play an active role in the ballet and theatre industry as a teacher, director and choreographer. She was responsible for staging a number of ballets that she had performed with the Ballets Russes, also coaching dancers for roles she had created for choreographers such as Sir Frederick Ashton.
As a teacher she has presented televised master classes and was also appointed Professor of Ballet and Performing Arts at the University of Cincinnati. In her later years, she continued to be a regular member of the teaching faculty for residential ballet courses such as the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars and the Abingdon Ballet Seminars, and was also a regular guest teacher at the The Arts Educational School, London and Royal Ballet School.
Markova was also the Patron and President for numerous dance organisations, including serving as President of English National Ballet, a Governor of The Royal Ballet and vice President of the Royal Academy of Dance.
[edit] Death
Some time after suffering a stroke, Dame Alicia died on 2 December 2004 in a hospital in Bath, Somerset, one day after her 94th birthday.
A memorial service of thanksgiving for her life and work was held at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 8th March, 2005. As part of the service, dancers of the English National Ballet company performed extracts from the ballet Giselle (Daria Klimentova, Dmitri Gruzdyev, Erina Takahashi, Arionel Vargas) and Les Sylphides (Agnes Oakes and Simone Clarke). There was also a performance by English National Ballet's resident pianist Christopher Swithinbank. The readings and address were given by Matz Skoog, former Artistic Director of English National ballet; Dame Monica Mason, Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet; Clement Crisp, Dance Critic for the Financial Times; Sir Peter Wright CBE, Director Laureate of Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Markova's Newphew Nigel Kempner.
[edit] Awards, Titles & Honours
- 1957 - Dance Magazine Award
- 1957 - Woman of the Year Award (American Women's Organisation)
- 1958 - CBE, Commander of the British Empire
- 1963 - DBE, Dame Commander of the British Empire
- 1963 - Queen Elizabeth II Award, Royal Academy of Dance
- 1966 - DMus, Honorary Doctorate of Music, Leicester University
- 1982 - MusD, Honorary Doctorate of Music, University of East Anglia
- 1994 - Evening Standard Special Award
- 2000 - Cecchetti D'Argento Award, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
- 2001 - DUniv, Honorary Doctor of the University, Middlesex University
[edit] Positions
- Co-Founder & President, English National Ballet
- Governor, The Royal Ballet
- Vice President, Royal Academy of Dance
- President, The London Ballet Circle
- Patron, The Academy of Indian Dance
- President, All England Dance Association
- President, The Arts Educational Schools
- President, British Ballet Organisation
- Professor of Ballet & Performing Arts, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati
- Patron, Friends of Northern Ballet Theatre
- Patron, Abingdon Ballet Seminars
- Honorary President, ANCEC (Associazione Nationale Coreutica Enrico Cecchetti)
- Patron, Critics' Circle National Dance Awards
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin: a legend of British ballet : a collection of portraits / with foreword by Peter Williams
- Alicia Markova / Hugh Fisher
- Markova: a collection of photographic studies by Gordon Anthony / foreword by Ninette de Valois
- Markova: her life and art / Anton Dolin
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alicia Markova |
- Images of Alicia Markova
- ballet.co - Legend
- Dame Alicia Markova obituary
- The Ballerina Gallery - Alicia Markova
- Andros on Ballet - Alicia Markova
- Alicia Markova dances - actual clip
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