Australia Dancing - Pavlova, Anna (1881

Pavlova, Anna (1881 - 1931)

Cazneaux, Harold: Portrait of Anna Pavlova, 1926

Anna Pavlova came to Australia twice, both times under the entrepreneurial banner of the J. C. Williamson organisation, and billed as 'The greatest dancer of all time'. Her first visit was in 1926 when she visited Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. She was partnered on this tour by Laurent Novikoff and the dancers included Algeranoff making the first of his many visits to Australia. The company presented some seventeen ballets and several shorter divertissements, including works that Pavlova had choreographed herself.

In 1929 Pavlova returned with a larger company and expanded repertoire. She was partnered during this tour by Pierre Vladimiroff and both Algeranoff and Edouard Borovansky were members of the company. On this second tour the company performed in Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Bundaberg before moving into the newly-completed His Majesty's in Brisbane. Then followed performances in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Pavlova trained at the Imperial Theatre School in St Petersburg and made her debut with the Imperial Russian Ballet at the Maryinsky Theatre in 1899. She performed in the opening season of Diaghilev's Ballet Russe in Paris in 1909 and from then on toured relentlessly. She criss-crossed the globe on these tours, which took in Africa, Indonesia, India, Japan and Australia as well as Europe, England, the United States, Canada and South America.

A further brief discussion, with online resources, of Pavlova's tours to Australia and the context in which they occurred is contained in the National Library of Australia's exhibition Dance people dance. See 'Early touring companies'.

For a detailed listing of Pavlova's schedule and repertoire in Australia see Anna Pavlova in Australia - 1926, 1929 Tours.

Bibliography:

Valerie Lawson, 'Australian ballet: born under the star system', in Brolga, 13 (December 2000), pp. 7-21; Edward H. Pask, Enter the colonies dancing: A history of dance in Australia 1835-1940 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 114-128. Pavlova's personal repertoire and choreography are listed in Martha Bremser (ed.), International Dictionary of Ballet, Vol. 2 (Detroit: St James Press, 1993), pp. 1088-1092.

Research Materials

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Find more about Pavlova, Anna in:

Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia