Gala tribute to Anna Pavlova

Posted on January 24, 2012

Anna Pavlova, one of the most famous ballerinas of the 20th century, will be celebrated in a gala at the London Coliseum on March 4. The gala marks 100 years since Pavlova moved to Ivy House, her London home, now the London Jewish Cultural Centre.

The gala, presented by Ensemble Productions, will include dances from Pavlova’s own repertory, including the rarely performed Egyptian Nights and The Dragonfly, plus excerpts from Paquita, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Giselle, La Bayadère, The Sleeping Beauty and Le Roi Candaule. Dancers announced to perform at the gala include Maxim Beloserkovsky, Alessio Carbone, Alina Cojocaru, Marlon Dino, Irina Dvorovenko, Dorothée Gilbert, Daria Klimentová, Johan Kobborg, Lucia Lacarra, Vladislav Lantratov, Viacheslav Lopatin, Uliana Lopatkina, David Makhateli, Vadim Muntagirov, Giuseppe Picone, Sergei Polunin, Tamara Rojo, Yana Salenko, Marat Semiunov, Alina Somova, Anastasia Stashkevich, Marian Walter, Svetlana Zakharova, Igor Zelensky and others. The evening will be directed by Wayne Eagling and accompanied by the orchestra of English National Ballet, conducted by Valery Ovsyannikov. To buy tickets for the gala, telephone 0871 911 0200.

The gala is the first event in the Pavlova 2012 Festival, with further events at Ivy House – including a competition, launched this month, to find the perfect Pavlova recipe! See ljcc.org.uk for details.

The photograph shows Anna Pavlova in her celebrated Russian Dance. The costume is now preserved at the Museum of London.

Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray is editor of Dancing Times. He studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic, and Wimbledon School of Art where he graduated with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. For 16 years he was a member of the curatorial department of the Theatre Museum, London, assisting on a number of dance-related exhibitions, and helping with the recreation of original designs for a number of The Royal Ballet’s productions including Danses concertantes, Daphnis and Chloë, and The Sleeping Beauty. He has also contributed to the Financial Times, written programme articles for The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and is co-author of the book Unleashing Britain: Theatre gets real 1955-64, published in 2005.