Markova

Description

"One of the world's noted dancers has written the biography of the world's greatest ballerina. Once again Markova and Dolin are partners; this time she is the subject and he is the chronicler of her triumphs. Out of his years of close association with Markova--when she was a child student of ballet, when she was with the Diaghileff Company, and when he and Markova had their own company--Dolin has told a story no one else could. He has told it with the warmth of a friend, with the pride of a partner, and with professional understanding of the art of ballet. This book is just what the balletomane ordered. Born in London in 1910, Alicia Markova took 'fancy dancing' lessons to strengthen her legs and was soon spotted as a 'miracle child.' She was advertised as the 'child Pavlova.' Then the Princess Seraphine Astafieva was persuaded to teach her, and in her class she met the young Anton Dolin, six years her senior, who became a sort of older brother.^ Dolin urged Diaghileff to take Markova into his company at the age of fourteen, and-off she went to Monte Carlo, protected by 'Guggy,' her tyrannical governess. She was with 'Sergypop,' as she called Diaghileff, for four and a half years, but his great plans for her were cut short by his death. She returned to England and her brilliant rise as a star coincided with the brilliant rise of English ballet in the l930s. In 1938 she conquered New York when she danced Giselle at the Metropolitan Opera House, and she has lived much in America since that time. Dolin gives the full story of her triumphs, her tours, her roles, and her connections with the various ballet companies. He gives close-ups of Diaghileff and of Markova's teachers. He reveals the ballerina's personality; her shyness, her love of cats, her taste for sweets (which the tyrannous 'Guggy' made use of to punish the child), and her affection for her mother and sisters.^ He shows her making up before a performance and he shows her reaction to applause after a solo. This is Markova--on the stage as the world knows her, traveling by train or plane as her company knows her, and leading a domestic life as her friends know her."--Dust jacket.

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