Tina Sutton - The Making of Markova: Diaghilevs Baby Ballerina to Groundbreaking Icon

To John

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

All photos are from the Dame Alicia Markova Collection at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

Letters written by Alicia Markova, Doris Barry, and Arnold Haskell are reprinted courtesy of Vivienne Haskell.

Anton Dolins personal correspondences are reprinted courtesy of his nephew, Philip Kay.

Frederick Ashtons personal correspondences are printed courtesy of the Frederick Ashton Foundation, London.

Copyright 2013 by Tina Sutton

Pegasus Books LLC
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New York, NY 10004

This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com

Image Gallery

Alicia Markova, 18, at Diaghilevs Ballets Russes.

Anna Pavlova with her pet swan at Ivy House.

Anna Pavlova in her signature role, The Dying Swan, 1917.

Markova as Odette in Swan Lake, 1935.

Lilian Alicia Marks at 9 months with her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, August 1911.

Conducting a band concert at 18 months in her neighborhood park.

On her second birthday, with mother Eileen.

Remedial dance lessons to cure wobbly, weak legs turned the 8-year-old, left, into the Thorne Academys littlest prodigy.

A lively studio rehearsal with Princess Astafieva, far right, little Alicia in the middle (leg outstretched), and the ever-watchful governess Guggy sitting on the piano bench, 1922.

Even at age 10, The Child Pavlova showed her flair for the dramatic.

The 9-year-old made quite an impression in her Thorne Academy Arabian Nights solo, 1920.

Alicia, age 13, walks with her first fashion role model, her mother. Coco Chanel would be her second.

As Papillon in a 1926 Ballets Russes production of Carnaval. Markova partnered with her famous teacher Nikolai Legat on stage.

Adored by Sergei Diaghilev, the 14-year-old was whisked to sunny Monte Carlo in 1925, becoming the youngest-ever member of the Ballet Russes.

Markova starred in Balanchines first work for the Ballets Russes, Le Chant du Rossignol. Henri Matisse designed her daring second-skin costume, but was asked to cover it up, as seen here, for more provincial London audiences in 1927.

After watching two ballerinas slip and fall on the slick black floor cloth for La Chatte (1928), Markova cleverly rubberized her ballet shoes for performances of Balanchines difficult Cat choreography.

A fetching, high-hatted Markova floored audiences with her mastery of Lonide Massines complicated choreography for Cimarosiana, 1927.

A more grown-up Markova (far left, next to her mother) poses with the Ballets Russes in Edinburgh, 1928. Dancers Alexandra Danilova and Serge Lifar are the second pair in from the right, with George Balanchine on the far right.

By 18, Markova fulfilled Sergei Diaghilevs dreams for her. Next season, the impresario promised, he would make her a true Ballets Russes star.

In Les Masques (1933), Ashton created a tour-de-force role for Markova, with magnificent sets and costumes by Sophie Fedorovitch.

Markova as a Creole prostitute (with dancer William Chappell) in Ashtons controversial A Day in a Southern Port (1931).