Dame Alicia Markova, Prima Ballerina Assoluta, Founder and President of English National Ballet "The people's ballerina"
An appreciation by Jane Pritchard, Archive Consultant, English National Ballet
Dame Alicia Markova, DBE (born Lilian Alicia Marks) was one of the
greatest ballerinas of the twentieth century. The critic, Arnold
Haskell described her as belonging 'to the royal family of the dance. A
true descendant of Taglioni and Pavlova her name is a household word'.
Her exquisite fragility and weightlessness was an illusion disguising a
steel-like technique and strength and her beautiful feet and hands
could dart or flow, shaping her movements in response to music.
Markova began to dance on medical advice to strengthen her weak limbs
and made her stage debut at the age of ten (as Salome in a pantomime of
Dick Wittington when she was billed as 'Little Alicia, the child
Pavlova'). After training at Serafina Astavieva's studio in Chelsea she
joined Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1924. Here, because she was
still tiny, special roles, such as the Nightingale in the
Stravinsky-Matisse- Balanchine Le Rossignol were choreographed for her,
and she was introduced to a range of new and established ballets. After
Diaghilev's death Dame Alicia played a significant role in the
establishment of British ballet working with the Vic-Wells/Royal
Ballet, the Camargo Society, and the Ballet Club/Rambert. In 1935 with
her partner Anton Dolin she founded the Markova-Dolin Ballet, the first
of several companies they would lead, which climaxed with the
foundation of Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet).
As a dancer Dame Alicia's range was impressive for she could be
ethereal, witty or dramatic as required. She created roles for
Frederick Ashton, Ninette de Valois, Michel Fokine, Antony Tudor,
Leonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, George Balanchine, John Taras and
Anton Dolin. It was for her that the classics Giselle, Swan Lake and
The Nutcracker were stage in London in the early 1930s and she moved
beyond classical ballet, performing a programme of Indian dances with
Ram Gopal in 1950s. As a ballerina she toured the world extensively,
working with most of the major companies and presenting her own concert
programmes.
Markova joined the Ballets Russes at the age of 14 being recognised as
a 'baby ballerina' even before publicists coined the catch-phrase in
the 1930s. Diaghilev had hoped that little Alicia would dance in his
famous production of The Sleeping Princess (1921) as the smallest of
the fairies at Aurora's Christening but she was prevented by catching
diphtheria. He took her to watch performances when she recovered and
Diaghilev became a father figure in her life guiding his 'English
daughter' in all aspects of life when she joined his company in Monte
Carlo in 1925. As a member of the Ballets Russes she studied under the
great ballet teacher Enrico Cecchetti and her later teachers included
Nicholas Legat and Vincenzo Celli. Having created special roles for the
Ballets Russes as she grew she combined working in the corps de ballet
with featured parts. In 1927 she took over the role of the Cat in La
Chatte, brightly realising that she would benefit from attaching
rubber tips to her shoes so that unlike her predecessors in the part
she did not slip on the special shiny floor the ballet used. When she
first danced Princess Florine in the Bluebird pas de deux Diaghilev
suggested that feathers for her head-dress should be made of bird of
paradise feathers and diamonds as he felt the traditional ostrich
feathers and pearls were too 'heavy' and vulgar for her delicate
features. He gave Alicia's mother £10 with which to find the feathers
on a Monday morning in Manchester (where his company was performing)
and she continued to use the resulting head-dress throughout her
career. At the time of Diaghilev's death in 1929 he was planning to
revive Giselle for the great ballerina Olga Spessitseva and wanted
Markova to learn the role for which she later became famous.
The death of Diaghilev, or 'Sergypop' as she called him, was
devastating to the young ballerina who, at 18, felt that her life had
ended. However the choreographers who were to establish ballet in
Britain were eager to work with her. Frederick Ashton invited her to be
ballerina in the play Marriage à la Mode 1930), for which he had been
asked to undertake the choreography. She quickly became a muse to him
appearing in his Persian La Péri (1931), his witty Façade (1931), his
effervescent Les Rendezvous (1933) and chic Les Masques (1933) among
many others. Her 1932 performance of L'Etoile in his Foyer de danse
inspired by Degas's pictures survives on film. Roles created for her by
Ninette de Valois included the cancan dancer, La Goulou, in Bar aux
Folies-Bergères, for which de Valois suggested she study the walk of
the 'ladies of pleasure' in Soho, and the dramatic Betrayed Girl in The
Rake's Progress.
Most significantly with Alicia Markova as a true ballerina Ninette de
Valois knew she could commission Nicholas Sergeyev to mount the great
classics - Giselle, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake - for her company.
These were ballets with which she would be associated throughout her
career and which showed off her poetry, musicality and phrasing.
Giselle revealed her lightness and ethereal qualities and The
Sugar-Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker her crystalline precision, but she
would also take on comic and virtuoso roles.
In 1935 Markova joined forces with Anton Dolin, the partner, with whom
she was most closely associated, to found the Markova-Dolin Ballet the
first of a series of companies designed to take ballet to new
audiences. After two seasons of constant touring she joined the Ballet
Russes de Monte Carlo (1938-41) touring to North and South America and
was a pioneer ballerina with American Ballet Theatre (1941-45). In
those years Markova's art reached new heights and her creations such as
the Queen of Hearts for Balanchine, Princess Hermilla for Fokine's
Bluebeard , Zemphira for Massine's Aleko, Juliet for Tudor, The
Firebird for Bolm and Camille for Taras indicate her incredible range.
Most of these ballets were witnessed by the great critic Edwin Denby in
whose writings we can still conjure up her performances. After
returning to Britain with Dolin to dance at Covent Garden in 1948 the
couple introduced arena performance to Britain dancing at Empress Hall
London and Harringay Arena where they were seen by 25,000 people in
four nights. They then presented gala performances mostly in
non-traditional theatre venues throughout Britain which led to the
foundation of London Festival Ballet, now known as English National
Ballet.
It was Markova who suggested the name for Festival Ballet evoking the
Festival of Britain, then imminent, which seemed appropriate for a
company created to reach new audiences. Although she ceased to be the
Company's ballerina in 1952 she returned as a regular guest until the
end of her dancing career. It was her love of Giselle and The
Nutcracker, which led to those ballets becoming cornerstones of the
Company's repertoire. For the final decade of her career she continued
to travel widely both with Festival Ballet and as a guest with the
Grand Ballet de Marquis de Cuevas, Royal Winnepeg Ballet, Royal Danish
Ballet, La Scala Milan, Chicago Opera Ballet.
With her retirement from performance in January 1963 Dame Alicia
continued to play an active role in the world of ballet and theatre.
Dame Alicia was involved in producing ballets from early in her career
for she helped to mount some of the Ballets Russes' creations for the
young Vic-Wells Ballet. She has taught and coached dancers in some of
her greatest ballets, Les Sylphides, The Nutcracker, Giselle and Swan
Lake and has presented televised master classes. She became Professor
of Ballet and Performing Arts at the University of Cincinnati and the
Patron and President of many companies and dance organisations
including serving as President of English National Ballet. Dame Alicia
was awarded the CBE in 1958 and made DBE in 1963. In 1957 she received
the Dance Magazine Award in America, in 1963 she was presented with the
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award by the Royal Academy of Dancing and
in 1995 she received a Special Evening Standard Award. In 1966 she
received an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Leicester University.
Reproduction of Jane Pritchard's Appreciation of Dame Alicia Markova
DBE is on the basis that it will be credited: By Jane Pritchard,
Archivist, English National Ballet.
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