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Guide to the Collection on Anna Pavlova
MS-P050
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Title: Collection on Anna Pavlova
Date: 1911-1981,
Date (bulk): bulk 1912-1931
Collection Number: MS-P050
Extent:
0.8 linear feet
(2 boxes)
Languages: The collection is primarily in English, with some materials in French, German, and Spanish.
Repository:
University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.
Irvine, California 92623-9557
Abstract: The collection comprises dance programs, photographs, postcards, clippings, and tributes assembled by the University of California,
Irvine, Special Collections and Archives to document the career of Anna Pavlova, a ballerina who was renowned for her inspiring
performances and for generating world-wide interest in ballet through her tours of the Americas and the Far East. The collection
also contains papers from Pavlova's private student Beatrice Griffiths, documenting Griffiths' dance lessons and participation
in Pavlova's dance company and including a typed letter of recommendation signed by Pavlova.
Important Information for Researchers
The collection is open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Printed materials created before 1923 are in the public domain.
For other materials, literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce
or to publish other materials, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Collection on Anna Pavlova. MS-P050. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Acquired, 1985, 2001.
Processed by Cyndi Shein 2007.
Between 1898 and 1930, Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova was one of the most celebrated dancers in the world and generated world-wide
interest in classical ballet. Her dance style was renowned for its artistry and grace in an era dominated by strength and
academic technique. She danced professionally for over twenty years and tirelessly brought ballet to people who had never
before had the opportunity to experience it. Sometime after 1912 she formed her own company and traveled with her troupe
to six continents, dancing in small provinces as well as big cities. She incorporated multi-cultural dances into her repertoire
and brought dances from East Asia and Mexico to central Europe and North America. Pavlova choreographed solos for herself
and created a short ballet called
Autumn Leaves. Her signature dance was
Le Cygne (The Swan), which combined very traditional footwork with less formal, expressive arm movements. Through
Le Cygne, Pavlova touched audiences deeply by communicating the fragility of life. She portrayed a dying swan by dancing passionately
en point through the entire dance and leaving her toes only in surrender to death at the very end.
Professionally, Pavlova was ever in the spotlight, but she managed to keep much of her personal life private. The claim that
she was married to her manager Victor Dandré is unsubstantiated, though they were domestic partners for many years. She had
no children of her own, but following the devastation of World War I, Pavlova established a home for Russian orphans at St.
Cloud near Paris. At her home in London,
Ivy House, Pavlova kept many pets, including a pair of white swans.
Throughout her life, Pavlova maintained an exhausting pace of traveling and tours and is reputed to never have missed a scheduled
performance. On a cold December night in 1930, while en route to the Netherlands, the train on which Pavlova was traveling
broke down, stranding her in the cold for hours. She caught a chill, which developed into pneumonia and then pleurisy. For
the first time in her career, Anna Pavlova cancelled a show. She died January 23, 1931.
Biography/Organization History
| 1881 January 31 | Born in St. Petersburg, Russia to mother Lyubov Fyodorovna Pavlova. (Date of birth given as February 12, 1881 in some sources.) |
| 1892 | Admitted to the Imperial Ballet School, St. Petersburg. |
| 1898 | Made official stage début at the Maryinsky. |
| 1899 April | Graduated form the Imperial Ballet School, St. Petersburg. |
| 1905 | Began to study with Enrico Cecchetti. |
| 1907 December | First danced Le Cygne (The Swan). |
| 1908 | Toured Riga, Helsingfors, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. |
| 1909 Spring | Toured Leipzig, Prague, and Vienna. |
| 1909 Summer | Toured Paris, France with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and appeared with Nijinsky. Danced Le Cygne in London for King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. |
| 1910 April 18 | Opened at the Palace Theatre in London. |
| 1910 | Made her American debut performing Coppelia with Michel Mordkin at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. |
| 1911 | Engaged Laurent Novikoff as dance partner. Toured London with the Ballets Russe. Appeared in St. Petersburg. |
| 1912 | Took up residence at Ivy House at the edge of Hampstead Heath and made London her home. |
| 1913 | Toured Germany. Appeared in St. Petersburg. |
| 1914 | Engaged Alexandre Volinine as her dance partner. Toured North America. Purchased Ivy House. |
| 1915 | Toured the United States. Presented her own interpretation of The Sleeping Beauty. |
| 1916 | Appeared in the Hollywood motion picture The Dumb Girl of Portici. |
| 1917 | Toured Havana, Cuba. |
| 1918 | Toured Mexico and South America. |
| 1920-21 | Solicited funds and established an orphanage in Paris, France for Russian refugee children. |
| 1922-23 | Toured the Far East. |
| 1925 | Toured the European continent. |
| 1926-27 | Toured South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. |
| 1927 | Toured England, Germany, and Italy. |
| 1928-29 | Embarked on her last world tour, which included South America, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Java, Burma, and Australia. Engaged Pierre Vladimiroff as her dance partner. |
| 1930 December 13 | Final appearance at Golders Green, London, dancing Giselle. |
| 1931 January 23 | Died of pleurisy at The Hague, Netherlands. Cremated and buried at Golders Green, London. |
Frank, A. H. (ed.).
Pavlova, a Biography. Bath, England: Pitman Press, 1956.
Magriel, Paul.
Pavlova, an Illustrated Monograph. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1947.
Money, Keith.
Anna Pavlova, Her Life and Art. New York : A. A. Knopf, 1982.
Pritchard, Jane. "Pavlova, Anna Pavlovna (1881–1931)." In
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37836 (accessed July 27, 2007).
Collection Scope and Content Summary
The collection comprises dance programs, photographs, postcards, clippings, and tributes assembled by the University of California,
Irvine Special Collections and Archives to document the career of Anna Pavlova, a ballerina who was renowned for her inspiring
performances and for generating world-wide interest in ballet through her tours of the Americas and the Far East. The collection
also contains papers from Pavlova's private student Beatrice Griffiths, documenting Griffiths' dance lessons and participation
in Pavlova's dance company and including a typed letter of recommendation signed by Pavlova.
The term "event program" is used to describe materials printed for particular performances and include the names of participants
or performing arts organizations. Event programs often contain specific times, dates, and ticket information. The term "souvenir
program" is used to describe materials that were issued annually or seasonally. Souvenir programs usually contain descriptions
of selected dances and images of featured performers but often lack specific information about performance titles, times,
and dates.
This collection is arranged alphabetically by format. Within each format, items are arranged alphabetically or chronologically
as appropriate.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Pavlova, Anna, 1881-1931 -- Archives.
Griffiths, Beatrice -- Archives.
Ballets russes -- History -- Sources.
Ballet -- History -- Sources.
Genres and Formats of Materials
Dance programs -- 20th century.
Souvenir programs -- 20th century.
Photographic prints -- 20th century.
Postcards -- 20th century.
Ballet dancers.