Anna Pavlova: Twentieth Century Ballerina

by Jane Pritchard, Caroline Hamilton

The great ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881–1931) began her career with the Imperial Russian Ballet in 1909, moved to Paris to dance with Vaslav Nijinsky in Sergei Diaghilev’s famous Ballets Russes, and formed her own dance company in London in 1912. Like celebrities of today, she toured the world, endorsed beauty products and department stores, appeared in fashion magazines, and even made a Hollywood movie. But her passion was always ballet, which she sought to bring to as wide an audience as possible. Many of the works she brought with her from Russia are regarded as the foundation of today’s classic ballet repertoire. Created to celebrate the centenary of the founding of Pavlova’s English dance company, this book offers an intimate look at the legendary ballerina whose name still resonates 80 years after her death.

This richly illustrated book has now been revised to include an entirely new chapter on Pavlova's tours to North and South America, as well as new images of Pavlova with Charlie Chaplin. Anna Twentieth-Century Ballerina takes a fascinating look at the iconic star whose career spanned Russia and the West in the first half of the century, showing how she became the most influential dancer of the time.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Megan]

Wanting to be a dance when I was younger, I found this book fantastic to see what it is actually like to be a professional dancer. Her life was an amazing story of over coming poverty to becoming one of the most well known dancers of the twentieth century. Her work ethic and how much she had to go through to become a great dancer will really resonate with children. It also is a great book for children to see how if they are willing to work hard, they can become anything they put their mind to.

I would recommend this book for older students in grades 5th through 9th.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really gorgeous photo book that had many pictures of Pavlova I had never seen before! There is some information about Pavlova as a person but primarily the text seems to focus on the touring she and her company did, which ultimately left an impression of how incredibly hard Pavlova worked in pursuit of her art and in her desire to share ballet with as many people as possible. So if you are a bun-head like me, this book is a must-have in your collection of dance books!

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was dry at times and the book offered more insight into Pavlova's company and incessant touring than the woman herself, but the photographs are spectacular.

[Alenka of Bohemia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful tribute to Anna Pavlova the Dancer and her enormous legacy. It is richly illustrated with high-quality photographs and makes for a perfect cofee table book. Sadly, I still know next to nothing about Anna Pavlovna the Person.