Alicia Markova has died.
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Saturday December 04, 2004 09:53
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ballet dancer, teacher, friend to many, mentor, charming little old woman.
has passed on from this life in her 94th year.
.:. REST .:.
Guardian-
Alicia Markova, prima ballerina assoluta and one of the most influential figures in British dance, has died in hospital in Bath on the night after her 94th birthday. A friend said she had been "gradually fading away this year".
As one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century, Dame Alicia's contribution to British cultural life was profound. Born plain Lilian Alicia Marks in Finsbury Park, London, she was renamed "Markova", by the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, her early champion, when she was plucked from her Chelsea ballet class to join his famous Ballets Russes in 1925, aged 14.
FT-
Markova was one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. She had a delicate physique, a tungsten technique masked by a gentle appearance, and a flawless musical understanding. Everything she did had to appear effortless, which she achieved by an implacable will and total concentration. I adored her, and her knowledge and her prodigious memory for dances and dancers taught me infinitely much ("Alicia, tell me about . . . ." "Well, dear, I remember Mr Diaghilev saying . . .").
A fascinating portrait of her, still working at the age of 90, appears in Dominique Delouche's film Markova, La Légende (2001). Until the end of her life she remained a marvel of grace and dance- intelligence.
the Times-
ALICIA MARKOVA was still two months short of her 20th birthday when British ballet effectively began in October 1930 with the foundation of the Ballet Club (which later became Ballet Rambert)
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Jump To Comment: 1The Tchaïkovsky Perm State Ballet performs at The Point from Thursday, the 9th of December to Sunday, the 12th of December.
Some may wonder how the relatively isolated city of Perm could produce a ballet company second only to the Kirov and the Bolshoï. The company's roots go back to 1870, to the foundation of the Tchaikovsky Perm State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
However its development into a world-class ballet company dates to the Second World War, specifically the siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). With the arrival of enemy forces, many of members, teachers and students from the Kirov were evacuated from Leningrad, to the safety of Perm, a town far to the east.
There they continued their work with the Tchaïkovsky Perm State Opera and Ballet Theatre, bringing with them the high standards for which the Kirov was already known. After the war, a number of the Kirov trainers and performers elected to stay in Perm, where they helped the Tchaïkovsky Perm State Ballet develop into one of the most highly regarded schools in the Soviet Union.
For this show, the Tchaïkovsky Perm State Ballet will perform with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. The Tchaïkovsky Perm State Ballet troupe includes Irish soloist ballerina Monica Loughman for these performances. Monica Loughman is the first member of the Perm Ballet not from the ex-Soviet Union.
The performances will showcase Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Prokofiev's Cinderella with a company of 70 dancers, a 100-piece orchestra and an array of septecaulcar sets and dazzling costumes. A wonderful festive event to be enjoyed by all the family, the Tchaikovsky Perm Ballet perform at The Point from the 9th of December.
Time: 7.30pm
Matinee: 2.00pm (Sat/11)
Tickets: €69/€59/€49/€42.50/€25/€15
Tickets are available from Ticketmaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.ie
The Point
North Wall Quay,
East Link Bridge,
Dublin 1.
Tel: + 353 (0) 1 8363633
( Those tickets are not very expensive considering the usual cost of watching people do quite incredible things the athleticism of olympics with the accuracy of football and the grace of brutish angels. )
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I had No brekkie this morning, but I _did_ stretch my legs.
Prezzie ZP is in Moscow for afternoon tea and croisants with Mr Putin, ZP is accompanied by his wife, a piano teacher, Sra Sonsoles Espinosa.
Pressie ZP has conveyed the best wishes of his government and the peoples of España and the King of España to Mr Putin and the peoples of the Russias, and Mr Putin has accepted an invitation to celebrate a state visit with lots of flags and big cars and nice dinner next year most probably in April.
The increased diplomatic "entente" which has emerged between Russia and European states (most notably Switzerland, France and Spain) in the last two weeks might signal a move to a multi-polar geo-political strategy by civilised nations.