Some people can remember when they were initially inspired by someone or something. Maybe it was the first time you ate a fine pastry from Galeries Lafayette in Paris while sipping delicious coffee. And you became a coffee connoisseur, the expert, taking delight in every new flavour you might find. Or maybe it happened sitting in a bookshop in Prague admiring the view from the window while you translated what you were reading. And then found that you became entranced by the captivating historical architecture within your view outside. Now addicted to the place, you find yourself popping back for your next fix.
The Cecchetti method might be a new term for you.
As you find your way around somewhere as beautiful as Prague in Czechoslovakia you might see how the architecture that encompasses you also seems to find itself bursting into the Cecchetti method, matured by the Italian ballet dancer Enrico Conchetti, (1850-1928).
“The goal of this method is to instil important characteristics for the performance of ballet into students so that they do not need to rely on imitations of teachers. Important components for this method is the emphasis of balance, elevations, ballon, poise, and strength.”
For many of us, watching ballet is a pleasurable experience, which fires all the senses. Movement, storytelling, delicate or rousting music that evokes your inner psyche to sweep out the cobwebs and dance into a new world.
Anna Pavlova caught my imagination when I was very young. One rainy school holiday I sat and watched a ballet on our black-and-white television. It was Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece Swan Lake, filmed in 1966. My grandmother loved ballet and had talked for many years about her love for all forms of music and dance and how she had enjoyed ballet lessons as a young lady. So, I sat there on that rainy Great Missenden afternoon and fell into the spell cast by Margaret Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev.
I found my first book, which included the influential ballerina Anna Pavlovna (Matveyevna) Pavlova at a church jumble sale in the seventies. My need to find out more about ballet was such, that at the age of eight, I took myself off to hunt for any information I could find. And there I found, one day, amongst many piles of old ballet annuals, someone who was a star, a magical performer. Who through her presence on stage, delighted the little dancer within you.Anna Pavlova
Keith Money’s robust and thick, comprehensive book, Anna Pavlova, Her Life and Art is a substantial guide to this amazing prima ballerina. The cover entices you inside with promises. And you are not let down. Even if you have no intention of reading it from cover to cover, but merely have this as a coffee table book, you could never be disappointed.
At the beginning of the book, we are gifted the Frontpiece Photograph from Dance Of The Hours, from La Gioconda c.1915. Annas milky, porcelain skin simmers.
The opening paragraph:
“There are some names that loom so large and imperishable in one's life that they are ikons, safely international, and to find oneself involved with one…”
Keith Money immediately draws our attention to the contribution that Anna Pavlova made to not just his life but to other artists as well. We now know that this large book is worth venturing into. Perhaps we thought we could not spare the time to sit down and read such a substantial manual and yet, enticing book. We now know that we must and will find that comfy sofa and curl ourselves up with some Illy hot chocolate in our favourite teacup and indulge from time to time. And biscuits of course!
When I started reading about Anna’s life, I could tell that Mr Money, like myself, was a Pavlova lover straight away. And yes, he does touch on puddings as all the best people do! This book (which I have not finished reading yet) will never leave my possession and shall be left to someone who loves The Ballet. And here am I with this indulgence I purchased by chance, in a charity bookshop, for a fraction of the cost it is worth to very many hearts
Within the Introduction Money states:
“Pavlova could not tell her tale but that she drew fresh breath each time she told it”
On page 2, I find him agreeing with something I had thought a million times since the age of eight.
That Pavlova “was promoting something more than just herself. She was really selling art.” For example: Let us look at Anna Pavlova's performance in Dances Columbine, 1920. Here we see that this miniature ballerina brings the music to life like an explosion in a fine crystal bonbon dish. She ups, she downs, invigorates, and as for her costume, her face. Well, Anna is within the music, and it propels her every movement.
On page three we have a quote from Anna Pavlova herself regarding her first visit to the ballet to see The Sleeping Beauty at the renowned historic opera house, The Maryinsky Theatre in St Petersburgh. Her family attends the performance in a sleigh. The snow twinkled around them in their moonlight journey to the ballet. Seated next to her mama, we hear that her mother told her “You are going to enter fairyland”. And if we could all magic ourselves back to that performance, then I am sure we would gladly sit through that dizzy spiritual experience with them.
And that is what I admire and love about this book. We are entering an age gone by that was like no other. As we enter into it, you know that when sitting through a long ballet performance or such, there is no desire to rush. You shall sit there and take in what you can and just flow within the narrative, enjoy the music, and settle down deeper into your velvet-covered seat.
Images Galore, and glorious they are too!
The sheer delight of this book is not only the detail that Keith Money ventured into, to tell Anna Pavlova's story. This is an encyclopedia, an index, of the life of someone who you begin to feel you know, as the author asks many questions that many other books do not touch on.
On page 209 we are treated to another glorious photograph from The Dragonfly performance, which Pavlova choreographed herself and premiered in 1915.
Is this book worth hunting down?
This is a book that I would like to be re-issued, in a special limited edition. To celebrate Anna Pavlova’s life. When we look back to this great age of ballet, we can only imagine the lighting. Also, the heavy scent of the theatre, as we settle down in our seats. And for a brief moment, as you indulge in Keith Money's masterpiece you will find yourself immersed in something very special.
© Sonya Vukomanovic/S.Lawrence 06/02/2024 (Legally protected)
New York: Knopf : Distributed By Random House 1982
Photograph: My own of this beautiful book! 1. Wikipedia
Anna Pavlova - 'The Dragonfly' : YouTube
The Beauty That Was Anna Pavlova / Анна Павлова : YouTube
1. Wikipedia
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