Anna Pavlova: The Romanov Ballerina

Divas strap in, because we are going back to Imperial Russia with our deep dive on Anna Pavlova: the most famous ballerina in history! From the cold, damp streets of St Petersburg where she struggled with sickness and poverty, to the glittering stages of the world, Anna Pavlova became both the darling of Romanov High Society and the Russian Imperial Ballet Academy, going on to redefine what the term 'ballerina' meant for every single dancer who followed! Shout out to our incredible researcher Grace McCamish for pulling this together, and if you're wanting more Hot History you can follow along on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/hothistoryclub/?hl=en, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@hot.history?lang=en, ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠ https://substack.com/@hothistoryclub, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@hot.history and of course, right here! 'Til next week, Ainslie x

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• 1:00Speaker 02

  Hi divas. So today we are talking about ballerinas, which means I am obviously method dressing to the max, right? Bun snatched. Little like heels with the little straps. I feel like they're kind of giving ballerina pointe shoe kind of vibes. They're pointed with little box. And obviously I am wearing my most Chulie like tutu-esque outfit for you all. That's how committed I am to being the hottest of historians for you all today. So let's get into it and roll the whimsical medieval tune.

• 1:46Speaker 02

  Hi guys and welcome back to Hot History, your corner of the internet where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know, but don't. I'm Ainslie Harvey, your hot historian here today, guys. Ready to chat about the most famous ballerina in history, okay? She is the icon of Romanov Russia who escaped the revolution, is rumored to have been the czar's secret mistress, started her own ballet company, made her own pointe shoes and changed ballet for every single human being after her, okay? With her impact spanning from the heart of St Petersburg to rural Queensland, Australia. This is the story of Anna Pavlova. So let's get straight into it today, my divas.

• 2:29Speaker 02

  Rewinding it all the way back to February 12th, 1881. Where we find ourselves in the freezing cold halls of Preyabuzhensky Regiment Hospital in St Petersburg. Yes, I've been seeing all of your comments about my Russian pronunciations. I'm trying to get better for you all, okay? But please keep bearing with me on this. It's really hard, okay? But getting back to the story, all right? To give you guys some context here, because we are really starting to flesh out our Imperial Russian knowledge base, which will be relevant when our series on the Romanovs drops next month. At the time of Anna's birth in 1881, Russia was under the rule of Czar Alexander II,

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  a progressive reformer who sought to drag Russia into the modern world. But not for long, because a month, almost to the day after Anna was born, Alexander II found himself assassinated, leaving his son, Alexander III, and his wife, Maria Theodorovna, who you guys will remember as like the original commissioner of the Faberge Eggs from two weeks before, as czar and czarina, right? So a new couple in charge, which means that Anna is being born into governmental chaos, with Alexander III seeking to revoke a lot of the reforms his father had made, asserting a strict autocratic fist over the empire, which was FYI, in no great state at this point in time, okay?

• 3:58Speaker 02

  After all, let us keep in mind, because again, we've covered so much Romanov history at this point, we are one czar away from revolution, which spoiler alert here, Anna also lived to see. So it is this really precarious political time, right? But also socially, with Russia's wealth inequality growing incredibly vast, with the poor being really poor and the rich living it up. Which is relevant when it comes to Anna, because she, much like Clara Bow from last week's episode, was born into abject poverty. Daughter of Leobov Pavlova, who came from peasantry and worked as a laundress and an

• 4:39Speaker 02

  unknown father, Anna was raised by her mother in poverty, something which was made even more difficult, because she was a very, very sick little girl. Born prematurely, Anna struggled through childhood with a hunched back and anemia, which saw her live with her grandmother in the countryside town of Lugova. Here, Anna spent her time healing from bouts of sickness with nutritious food, crisp morning air and warm sunshine. Spending time watched over by her grandma, who began taking young Anna for walks in the woods to pick wildflowers. This is something that would prove essential in forming the artist she would go on to become, with her returning strength allowing her to venture further into the natural world around her grandmother's cottage, where she saw various

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  species of plants and animals, who she turned into characters within her immensely active imagination, guys, which I love so much. Like bring back whimsy and imagination, okay? Because this is something that Anna had tenfold. Going anywhere, doing anything and being anyone she wanted, which was perhaps the single most important thing about her. Because it allowed this, this young, right? Sickly impoverished girl to dream big, far bigger than anyone would comprehend. Saying of her childhood that she might not have had much, but she quote, "Built castles in the air out of my hopes and dreams."

• 6:08Speaker 02

  Which I love that so much, my divas. Like, I do worry sometimes for like the younger generations and the kids coming up with devices and things like that. Like, Diva just had, you know, the woods and she's creating this whole world. Anyway, having successfully overcome a lot of her early health problems, Anna said goodbye to her grandmother, returning to St Petersburg where she lived in a small flat with her mother, who had raised enough funds by the time Anna was eight, to take her for an evening that would change her life forever. Decked out in their finest smock dresses, Anna and Leobov set off hand in hand for the Morensky Theatre to see the French Russian choreographer Marius Petipa's ballet,

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  The Sleeping Beauty. Sat with, what she called anyway, the gods up in the nosebleed seats, Anna was thrilled to be in a place so fancy, admiring the chandeliers, the velvet cushions and the gold brocade around her, waiting with bated breath for the lights to dim and the score to start. In this, she didn't quite know what to expect other than grandness, but what happened was far greater than she ever imagined. Watching the slender glorious dancers float across the stage under the bright and sparkling lights in costume of Chul and Lace and Feather, eight-year-old Anna was transfixed.

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  It was as though every cell, right, in her body was alight with both blind admiration and burning desire to try such moves herself. Something which, in the context of who she would become, is basically like Van Gogh picking up his first paintbrush, all right? It's revolutionary. It unlocks something deep inside Anna's soul. Saying to her mother on the way out of the lobby, quote, "One day I shall be a princess and shall dance upon the stage of this theatre." Again, my divas, if you ever need a reminder of what imagination and like a touch of delusion, right, can do for you, case in point, Anna Pavlova, right here. From that night on, Anna was obsessed, okay?

• 8:16Speaker 02

  Walking the streets of St Petersburg with pointed toes and pirouetting around the small dining room to the point of nausea, begging her mother to let her attend a ballet school. However, this came with a really large tuition cost, something despite her wantedness for her daughter to do, she just couldn't afford, which left one option, the biggest option, the one that would require every ounce of dedication and time and talent to do.

• 8:47Speaker 02

  The Russian Imperial Ballet School. Funded by the Tsar's government, this was the Holy Grail of dance academies, not just in Russia, guys, but in the world. For under Catherine the Great, Russian ballet flourished. Initially, depending heavily on foreign choreographers, composers and performers, the Tsars wanted to change this, and as such, invested enormous sums of money into theatres and schools and costumes, and, most importantly, early talent programmes. With exceptionally gifted children able to receive a completely free education as part of the Imperial Ballet programme, which, for Anna, guys, like, this is her Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory golden ticket.

• 9:28Speaker 02

  But it was one which required genuine genius, okay? And while, yes, she was passionate, Anna did have no training or background to make the necessary connections. Still, though, she applied. And while at first told they didn't take children under 10 years old, the director of the school actually told her she needed to strengthen her body, which was too frail-looking to carry the load of full-time ballet. So what did she do? Well, Anna basically took this, not as a no, but as a not now, and began an agonising training and diet regimen for two years at only eight years old. So this is a hell of a dedicated diva, okay? She's doing it all. She's drinking cod liver oil. She's

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  jumping and running in the park and getting her hands on as much music and kind of, you know, instructional information about technique as possible, until she finally passed her examinations in 1891 at aged 10. Now, I'm sure you already guessed this, okay, but I just want to be really clear. Life in the Russian Imperial Ballet was rigorous, all right? Alongside hours of dancing, students were also expected to take basic classes in literature, arithmetic and history. So decidedly not what the Aussies were up to in dance academy, okay? It's definitely giving more like an Abby Lee Miller vibe, but, like, mixed with military training. But still, it was here, amongst the creaky

• 10:54Speaker 02

  wood floors, perfectly balanced barbeques and soft tulle of tutus and costumes that Anna felt at home. Located in a state-of-the-art, custom-built facility just down the road from the Winter Palace, where the school, fun fact, actually first took over the upper floors, Anna moved into the academy's boarding house as soon as she was formally accepted. So she's kind of leaving her mother. But her new roommates, well, my divas, let's just say they were not overly hospitable. Bullying 10-year-old Anna for her thin frame, she was initially given the nickname "The Broom", a title which also made inference to her upbringing in the working class. For unlike majority of the girls who were kind

• 11:36Speaker 02

  of accepted into the academy, they were all from aristocratic circles, right? She is a working-class diva. So there is, from the get-go here, snobbery and bitchery afoot. However, Anna would not let this get to her. She trained harder, she turned faster, and she excelled further than any of them. After which she was known no more as "The Broom" and instead as "La Petite Sauvage", AKA "The Small Savage", which, to be honest, guys, that is kind of chic. And by the looks of it, Anna herself didn't really seem to care about the nickname, because as I said, she is locked the fuck in here. Being taught

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  by some of the greatest ballet teachers of the era, including Christian Johansson, Pavel Gert and, of course, Marius Petipa himself, AKA "The Father of Classical Ballet", whose productions went on to change careers and build stars, including Anna, who he took under his wing, casting her in his 1891 production of "A Fairy Tale", which only a handful of the young student ensemble were featured in. So this is a real honour, and one which earned her the right of his patronage throughout her years at the academy. Speaking of which, my divas, shall we do a little day in the life of the Russian Imperial Ballet Academy? Or at least Anna's routine, anyway, because I am invested, right? I love

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  the, like, ballet dancers' routines on TikTok. So, she would wake up early every morning and take a cold shower to wake her up, then go to breakfast, after which she and the other students danced for several hours. This was then followed by academics, which, as we said, were languages, literature, history and more, followed by another hour or so of training, then dinner and bed. So a huge schedule for a tween, right? She's like 10, 11, 12 at this time, which Anna was beginning to find really difficult. Not so much in relation to the amount crammed in each day, but to the technical increases to the classes. You see, when Anna Pavlova arrived and was mastering the basics, she

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  soared. But as the classes progressed in technical difficulty, she did begin to run into some issues with her body itself. While we, from the outside and, you know, the retrospect of today, can see that Anna was blessed with these gorgeous long limbs, which many of the ballerinas now are known for, back then, this was considered a real disadvantage, with more complex athletic frames like that of acrobats or gymnasts being the commonplace. She also had insanely high arches in her feet, which made things like point very difficult for her to grasp, paired with the fact she had, like, these incredibly thin ankles, which turned out to be a recipe for instability and injury, lacking a lot of the natural

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  strength through her frame as a result. But her physicality wasn't all a downside. In fact, fellow student Tamara Casavina later recalled of Anna's middle years in the academy, saying, quote, "Pavlova at that time hardly realised that in her life's shape and in her technical limitations lay her greatest strength: her charming personality." Which is true. I mean, not only did Anna have to work harder and longer than anyone else to overcome these physical limitations, something which bred this incredible work ethic, but she developed this extra, like, je ne sais quoi, right? In her performances, something which attracted the attention of yet another master of ballet in the Imperial Academy,

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  one Sergei Diagolov, whose approach to ballet was more kind of expressive, I guess, and experimental, going beyond the bounds of traditional training with new movement and freedom, something that Anna really enjoyed to do. So much so, that by her final years of training, Anna Pavlova was basically like the Maddie Ziegler of the entire Imperial Russian Ballet, okay? Booking herself the leading role in Petipa's "The Two Stars" upon her graduation in 1899.

• 15:43Speaker 00

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• 16:11Speaker 03

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• 16:41Speaker 02

  So she's a rising star. She's out of the academy and into the world of professional ballet. But what does that actually mean? And it's a good question here, guys, because it is a very, very different nine-to-five than most of us are familiar with. So firstly, we should mention here, Anna didn't go to an external ballet company after she graduated. So like, you know, she could, she could leave this school and go and work for kind of this external production, but she doesn't do that. Instead, staying on to become a salaried performer for the Imperial Ballet itself. So she's not straying too far from home, just levelling up to the role of "corrige", which is basically a rank of ballet dancers. So it's above the corps de ballet, AKA the main ensemble, but below a second and first

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  soloist. So at this point, guys, she's kind of a middle man, right? Which brought her in around 600 to 720 rupes per year, which is about 90 to 105,000 Australian dollars today. So not too shabby for kind of her first year out of college, if you will. Now, the way that you climbed throughout the ranks to become a soloist and then eventually a prima ballerina, if you were, you know, basically a god, was by spring promotion, where the company panel assesses and grades you, which isn't necessarily as relevant at this point in Anna's life, but you get the idea. It's good context, right? But the big question I do have at this point, however, is what does a day in the

• 18:08Speaker 02

  life of an Imperial ballerina in 1899 look like? And since Anna Pavlova didn't, you know, have TikTok at the time to tell us, I'm gonna recreate it for you. So firstly, picture this, right? Cold open to eyes blinking wide in a dark St Petersburg room. She wakes up early every single morning with a cold shower, followed by morning class, which goes for around one to one and a half hours, focusing on bar and core strength to work on technique. Then she went straight into rehearsals just before lunch, which lasted for several hours, where she learned new choreography and practised existing routines which were coming up for showcase.

• 18:48Speaker 02

  Then it was back-to-back costume fittings and stage rehearsals, which obviously varied in length, given how close they were to opening night, so she's trying on fits, she's, you know, playing with her shoes, she's doing kind of makeup tests. After which, she then gets a break by mid-afternoon to eat, repair her point shoes, start to do her hair and makeup for the show, and most importantly, warm-up, which usually lasted at least an entire hour before showtime, with most performances beginning around 7 to 8pm and finishing between 10 to 11. So a huge day in the life for Anna Pavlova and the dancers of the Russian Imperial Ballet. But again, guys, not something they were, you know, unfamiliar with.

• 19:31Speaker 02

  After all, they'd basically been doing this since they were 10 years old. Which means that Anna takes to this next stage of her career like a duck to water, with her performance in The Two Stars catapulting her into ballet stardom within St Petersburg, where she then played Fairy Candide in The Sleeping Beauty, which was a pretty huge moment for her, guys, like personally and professionally. Because if we remember back to Anna's childhood, this was the very first ballet she'd ever seen, where she says to her mum, you know, "I'm gonna be that princess on stage, like in this theater", which is what she did exactly in this moment. So, like, the stakes are really high here. Personally, professionally, it's a lot of stress.

• 20:12Speaker 02

  So much so, that Anna actually freaked out in the wings and forgot some of the choreography, something which Petipa, as I'm sure you can imagine, was not thrilled with, scolding Anna for changing the steps and never casting her as the Fairy Candide again. But don't worry, my divas, it was only because she had even bigger and even better roles to take on. Playing both the Temple Dancer and Nikia in La Baye de in April of 1902, where her ethereal, long-limbed look captivated audiences, who became obsessed with the star from 1902 onwards, okay? After this, she really is becoming like a household name in Russia, as she continued

• 20:55Speaker 02

  to expand her repertoire further and further. Starring in leading roles that suited her dramatic gifts, including the Queen of Nysia, Peketa, and Princess Especha. She also debuted in the starring role as Giselle in Petipa's final revival of Giselle in 1903, and Alexander Shiriyevé's revival of The Naiad and the Fisherman. Which, for those kind of thinking, "Great, but like, I don't know what you're talking about", a revival of an old classic is a really big fucking deal, okay? It's kind of comparable today to like when a new actor takes on James Bond. And both of these productions were staged specifically for Anna.

• 21:37Speaker 02

  That's how serious her success was at this point, which soon went international. That's right, my divas, this is a globe-trotting, jet-setting queen. Performing Giselle in Warsaw, Poland in 1904, the press began to follow the slightly odd-looking Russian ballerina's rise to stardom, dubbing this performance as her true breakthrough role. Which is why no one was surprised when Anna Pavlova was officially crowned prima ballerina in 1906. Now, some ballet jargon here, so I do want to explain, but a prima ballerina is the title given to the leading ballerina in a company, which actually dates back to Italy in the

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  late 19th century, despite the fact that court ballet actually originated in France. But alas, I digress. To be a prima ballerina, you had to be, as I already mentioned, basically a prodigy turned pro, okay? With your title largely linked not just to your talent, but also to the impact you made on the art form, whether that was introducing like a distinctive individual mark or launching a new production. However, even among prima ballerinas, there are those that transcend above, okay? The gods, if you will. And their title was prima ballerina absoluta, which were basically the absolute queen divas

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  that altered the generations forever, with only 13 official prima ballerina absolutas being recognised, one of whom was not Anna Pavlova. Yeah, divas, we have a bit of conspiratorial tea to spill here, because in 1910, after more than a decade with the Imperial Russian Ballet, Anna Pavlova leaves their company, an act which severed her institutional allegiance and put her out of the running-for-the-god tier title. But I just want to reiterate once more and kind of restore to the historical record, Anna Pavlova was absolutely one of these divas, okay? I don't care if like she had the title or not, I'm giving it to her by the powers vested

• 23:45Speaker 02

  in me as a hot historian. So the big question burning on all of your lips right now, I just know, right? Is why did Anna, the jewel of the Russian Imperial Ballet's crown, up and leave? Well, it turns out she's quite the entrepreneur. You see, by this point in her career, Anna Pavlova was known around the globe, with her fame and fortune expanding day by day, including among social circles. Now, for a girl who grew up in poverty, this was a very different life. Welcomed into aristocratic circles, which is rather ironic, because many of the young women within these kind of like aristocracy were the ones who had previously called her the broom at school. But, I mean, she's no longer la petite savage anymore, right?

• 24:30Speaker 02

  She now wore the most fashionable clothing, dined in the finest establishments, and became the gem of whatever social event she attended. Something which brought her into close proximity with the Romanovs, including the Tsar. Which is when a very famous Romanov rumor begins to spread, okay? That Anna Pavlova, star of the Russian Imperial Ballet, was having an affair with Zaniklas II. But is this true? I mean, this is some pretty piping hot tea. Well, it is very unlikely. You see, despite having strong connections with the Romanovs, both through the Imperial Ballet and socially, Anna and Nicholas only met in person on one documented occasion,

• 25:15Speaker 02

  when he attended a performance of hers at the Marinsky Theatre, requesting to then meet her during the interval. After which she's kind of like, "Oh my god", quickly changes and is presented to him backstage, where he, in turn, is very diplomatic, right? He's congratulating her on representing Russian art and requests she always promises to return to St Petersburg. Plus, he introduces her to his daughters, the grandduchesses, whom Nicholas adored in equal measure to his own wife, guys, with zero credible evidence that Nicholas ever cheated on Alexandra. What is likely to have happened here, aside from just kind of general gossip mongering, is that Nicholas's relationship prior to his marriage with ballerina Matilde Koshinska

• 26:00Speaker 02

  was deliberately confused with that of Anna, who's now kind of so famous and so mainstream, that it's pretty easy to sell. But by all accounts, this is entirely untrue, guys. So that's St Petersburg, right? The tea, the society, the goss. But what about Anna's life beyond Russia? Well, she was beloved and followed wherever she went, developing a tribe of loyal followers called the Pavlovatsi, who sent flowers, waited at the stage door, and basically defended the fact that she was the greatest ballet dancer in history. So kind of like the Swifties of the early 20th century.

• 26:41Speaker 02

  As for her social life abroad, well, she was quite the culture vulture, with a closet that contained collections straight off the Paris runways, vintage jewellery which she painstakingly sourced from around the globe, and a growing art collection, all of which helped her cultivate an image of delicate, almost supernatural femininity, a quality that would help her land her most famous role of all. The dying swan. It's getting dramatic in here, divas. I'm loving it. And I do have to admit here, right after Clara Bow and like silent films and 1920s Hollywood last week, I wasn't sure how like into the ballet scene I'd be, not to be Timothy Chalamet-ing it up in here.

• 27:23Speaker 02

  But it is so, so fascinating how it all works, like especially around this incredible, like golden Russian imperial dying swan era, which really became the Pavlova dance. Okay, one of the most recognizable, world renowned pieces of artistry and music and choreography and costuming in human history. So let's unpack it. So firstly, the dying swan is actually, as many good things are, a literary adaptation, which Anna worked to bring to life with choreographer Macalfe Keane after she'd read Alfred Lord Tennyson's The Dying Swan poem. Published around 1830, the forty-two line three stanza masterpiece captures a swan

• 28:08Speaker 02

  from her beauty and pride in her prime to her life in the final fleeting moments before and of her death, something which Anna, again, a really big lover of kind of nature and animals, adored. So much so that she asked Macal to choreograph a dance based on the text, set to the music of Camille Saint-San's, who created the score called La Signa, especially for Anna. The dying swan premiered in December 1905 at a charity gala in Noblemen's Hall in St Petersburg, which was kind of to raise money for widows and orphans, which like Anna Pavlova is an incredible person, as well as an incredible dancer, supporting so many causes and so many kind of cultures and individuals in her time. But I digress, right?

• 28:52Speaker 02

  Let me tell you, divas, when I say that the debut of the dying swan was an instant success, I am not exaggerating here. All right. This was basically the emotionally charged equivalent of Susan Boyle's Les Miserables X Factor audition. Okay. There were grown men weeping. There were children like transfixed and staring and women of all social backgrounds are like clutching at their hearts as Anna, dressed and embodied as the swan is wounded, fighting for death until it takes her. I told you, this was dramatic and like so incredibly like transfixed, guys. We have to watch this piece. Of this, Macal said, quote, "The dying

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  swan does not make enormous technical demands, but rather enormous artistic ones, because every movement and every gesture should signify a different experience," which is exactly why Anna was the perfect person for this. Because as we said, her struggles with her physicality meant that she leant into this really, uh, like expressive and dramatic, feeling-led side of herself with that active imagination she had as a child, allowing her to make even the smallest of movements into something meaningful and grand. Plus, guys, let us not forget, while she may have both fame and fortune now, she certainly didn't growing up, coming close to death several times. So there's really some lived

• 30:17Speaker 02

  experience here. After this initial charity performance, Anna was keen to share the dying swan further, opening in 1907 at the Imperial Marinsky Theatre, the same theatre she'd first visited for Sleeping Beauty as a child, to roaring applause, which Geraldine Spatiri, an author for The Ballet Shop, said came down to the fact that, quote, "The dying swan captured the essence of ballet, delicacy, beauty and profound emotional depth, all in one." And she's not wrong here, guys. Watching this footage, which for those listening, I will post to the socials. For those watching, I'll play for you shortly. You do get this like real sense, um, like of emotion, right? It's a, it's a deep emotional response. And

• 30:59Speaker 02

  Anna genuinely does look like a swan. So much so that many ballerinas, both during and after her time, have taken a lot of her movements, namely her signature swan arms, and incorporated them into Swan Lake, which just FYI, has no relation to the dying swan, with it first premiering 28 years earlier, which makes it even more extraordinary here that Anna's performance went on to inspire so many Odets in what is arguably like the most famous ballet in history, right? Swan Lake and an absolutely banger Barbie movie for the divas who haven't seen it. Again, Geraldine Spatiri says of this, quote, "Pavlova's

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  pioneering spirit brought ballet to audiences worldwide, leaving an indelible mark on the art form beyond the dying swan."

• 31:49Speaker 00

  The action's on the court, and as the official beer sponsor of the NBA, Michelob Ultra is getting fans closer to the game with a chance to win courtside seats, merch and more. Visit michelobultra.com/courtside to enter. Michelob Ultra Courtside, 26 to 27. No purchase necessary. Open to US residents 21+. Begins on October 1st, 2026 and ends on June 30th, 2027. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes and details.

• 32:18Speaker 03

  Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start. This year, I've been layering in some styles from the new Lululemon fall drop because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it. Lululemon's fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces, so I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece and head out, knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me. Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at lululemon.com.

• 32:48Speaker 02

  So let's watch slash listen to some of this, shall we? Like, what's all the hype about? We need to see ourselves. Now, for my listeners, I will post the full visual on social so that you can experience it for, you know, kind of yourself. But for those who are watching, see what I mean by this sense of like raw emotion coming through, right? Something which Anna had the opportunity to demonstrate, performing the dying swan over 4,000 times during her career, which I worked out to be around 13 times a month. So like, she's truly mastered this, right? She can do it with her eyes closed. It's giving like Lin-Manuel Miranda, doing the like, not giving up my shot monologue from Hamilton, which I'm obsessed with. It also went on to inspire Anna's own menagerie of

• 33:33Speaker 02

  animals, adopting two pet swans named Jack and Clara. So the swan really became her symbol and the thing which by 1910 allowed her to leave the Imperial Russian Ballet and start her own company. Oh yes, my divas. You see, we are not just dealing with a hella talented, hella hardworking, hella famous ballerina here. We are also in the midst of a hella successful entrepreneur who took her career in both her hands and ran with it. Making her public London debut with the Palace Theatre, where she secured a three month season featuring nine weekly shows, Anna really embodies the kind of work ethic

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  you need to work for yourself here, guys. Like, I always think about this, those memes, where it's like, I didn't want to work nine to five for someone else, so now I work 24/7 for me, which in Anna's case, she was already working insane hours with the Russian Ballet before, but this was something else entirely. Okay. Making her the hottest girl in London, a place she fell in love with, buying Ivy House, a three-story, 12,500 square foot home in 1912. Now, very, very quickly on this, because I'm a home decor lover, so I could stay here forever, but this house and its gardens were gorgeous. Okay. Featuring

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  a stunning ornamental lake where Anna kept her exotic birds and dogs and cats and of course, her two swans. Ivy House became her refuge, a base where she relaxed, trained and even taught children to dance. So London really becomes her new home, which after performing for King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, who herself was the aunt of Nicholas II, so like a good Russian connection here, she quickly found herself folded into British high society. Something which was important here, because had she not made this move to the UK, there is a really high chance that Anna Pavlova would have been stuck in Russia forever, or even more precariously, guys, shot dead. For the Tsar's terrible

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  leadership, paired with the effects of the First World War and the rise of revolutionary fervour, led to the dissolution of the Russian Imperial Family in the February and then October Revolution. So kind of this whole system, right, which Anna had been raised up by was over, with her never able to keep her promise to the Tsar to return to Russia because she never set foot in the country again. So what does she do then? Well, what any star does, guys, she makes sure the show goes on. And let me tell you, she was as glorious as ever, with the British press describing her as, quote, "incomparable" and The Times writing, quote, "There are other great dancers, but there is only one Pavlova."

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  So the business is a success. She, as a dancer, is a revelation and international audiences love her, which she used to mix up her performances, including some new works by up and coming choreographers, but her main repertoire was, you know, of course, the classics, right? Which included Giselle, the Nutcracker and the Rose Dance, which most people outside of Russia hadn't really experienced. And even though, ugh, I roll, some critics still harped on about how she wasn't the most gifted technical dancer on the planet, there was no denying Anna Pavlova was one of the best performers, right? A star, a girl who was born for the stage, who delighted and inspired people, believing

• 37:07Speaker 02

  always that expressing beauty through her art was a source of hope for humanity. Which, again, guys, let us remember at this point, right? Post-World War I, society has experienced like such great death and suffering, kind of similar to Clara here, right? We kind of see the comparisons between like the talkies. People are like, oh, she's bad at the talkies, but she is this incredible star and performer here who kind of, you know, was able to help people escape through cinema. Anna was also really, really thoughtful in who she had dance and work with her, including Uday Shankar, an Indian artist who was living in London at the time, who worked with Anna to choreograph elements of Indian dance into her productions, even encouraging him to leave ballet to go and develop the new Indian

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  art form, which he not only did, guys, but completely excelled at, leading the Renaissance of modern classical Indian dance. So she is, right, a hard worker. She's adaptable. She's fighting for diversity and encouraging other artists to follow their dreams, all while being wildly successful in the process. I fucking love this woman, honestly. Like, she is so incredible. And it genuinely seems like anything she touches turns to gold.

• 38:25Speaker 02

  But, because as we know with hot history divas, there is always a but, especially with women. Hard work like this always pays a price. And after touring like One Direction in 2014 from continent to continent, it was starting to take its toll. From days spent in trains to weeks spent on ocean liners, Anna travelled the world from South America, where she spent parts of 111, to Northern America, where she created the California poppy dance inspired by the landscapes. She also made it to Japan, where she took traditional Japanese dancing lessons and even came down under, guys. That's right for all of you Aussie and New Zealand divas. If you're listening or watching, right?

• 39:08Speaker 02

  And you're going Pavlova, sounds an awful lot like Pavlova, AKA the delicious fluffy white dessert we have each Christmas. Then you're going to be delighted because that's exactly what it was based off. Yeah, I bet you didn't think you'd be getting some food history today, but we are full of surprises at Hot History here. So what is the deal with the ballet dancer and the dessert? Well, firstly, for my international listeners here, Pavlova is a dessert. Like I said, basically it's meringue, so like this white fluffy egg mixture with cream and berries on top. And it was inspired by the fluffy lightness of Anna Pavlova's tutus.

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  And actually has a bit of conflicting beef between us Aussies and New Zealanders here. So for the Aussies, we like to claim the path as our own, saying it was created by chef Herbert Suss at Perth's Esplanade Hotel in 1935. While the New Zealand version claims an unnamed Wellington Hotel chef created the dessert during Anna's 1926 tour of New Zealand. Although this is unverified with food historian Helen Leach saying the earliest known New Zealand recipe resembling the Pavlova cake appeared in 1929. Regardless though, Anna Pavlova's international tours were just as incredible as the dessert is, guys.

• 40:29Speaker 02

  With her impact on the various cities she toured and willingness to really get involved with the culture and the local towns. Kind of comparable to like a modern day eras tour in a way, which really allowed Anna to transform ballet. From this imperial Russian foreign kind of luxury to an inclusive art form that could be accessed by millions of people. And that's a hell of a mission, guys, right? A lot of work. One which saw her travel approximately 300,000 miles and give nearly 4,000 performances between 1910 to 1925. Something which put immense physical strain on her body and mental health.

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  With she herself now being responsible for her dancers' employment, theatre bookings and the productions' reputations. All of which, again, really relied on her herself being strong enough to perform. But she wasn't taking on the world all by herself. Because in everything, she was accompanied by Viktor Dondre, her adoring husband. Now, I think the best comparison I can kind of make here is to say that Anna and Viktor were the Tom Holland and Zendaya of their time. Okay, Anna, obviously the most famous ballerina in the world. And Viktor as a Russian aristocrat and member of the St Petersburg city duma.

• 41:55Speaker 02

  Whose family actually descended from French aristocracy and escaped to Russia after the revolution. So he is, you know, super well educated. He is very, very cultured. He's very connected, which makes him a really good match for our talented dancing queen. Because he absolutely adored her, right? Wanting her to shine. Very Tom Holland and Zendaya. Which is even more relevant because they too kept their relationship under total lock and key. Not announcing they were even together romantically until Anna's last American tour in 1924 to 1926. When she said, quote, "For an artist, there is no husband.

• 42:40Speaker 02

  Pavlova the artist and Pavlova the wife, they are two very separate persons, so I keep them separate. My dancing belongs to the world, but my husband to myself." Which I love for this diva. Like I am, again, so obsessed with Anna Pavlova. I could not love her anymore if I tried. The more I dug into her life, again, I'm just like, what an incredible person and an incredible performer and star. Like I am obsessed with her. So how did her and her Tom Holland meet? Well, according to biographers, Anna and Viktor first met around 1904 to 1905. Where he initially acted as her wealthy patron, as was common practice for Russian ballerinas at the time.

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  Who kind of, you know, would find aristocratic men to kind of sponsor them, giving them clothes, accommodation and introducing them in social circles. But this very quickly turned romantic with the pair falling in love while still in St Petersburg. Which is almost where Viktor would have stayed and probably died if not for what historians dub as an anonymous bailout. But I'm almost certainly, guys, gonna dub as Anna Pavlova intervening. So what's the tea there? Why does Viktor need to be bailed out in the first place? Well, as I said before, Viktor is a member of the Russian aristocracy, which, you know, just in general is a pretty dangerous thing to be around 1916 to 1918. Something which was made even worse for him because he was also a member of the duma.

• 44:08Speaker 02

  Which was basically the National Parliament, if you will. Where he was accused of misusing and embezzling public money and then arrested. So he's in the clink, right? And would have stayed there if not for a very, very large bail payment of around 35,000 rubles. Which was anonymously posted, allowing him to leave custody and eventually escape Russia. Now, again, I want to be clear, there are no records of who posted this amount. Which is the equivalent, hold on to your hats, my divas, of around 3.7 million US dollars today.

• 44:46Speaker 02

  But it was widely believed, both at the time and largely now, that Pavlova secretly supplied this money through her signing deal with the London Theatre in 1910. So she's saving her man from kind of the, like the proceeds of starting her business, right? Which largely also saved his life in retrospect, with the two moving into Ivy House before the revolution. Where Viktor soon became her manager. So he's making it up to her, right? He's putting in the hard graft. He's booking trains, he's organising theatres and managing the inventory required for her shows. Which at one point had over 400 like giant boxes of stuff that were involved in the productions. So these two are a working couple, who according to Viktor secretly married in 1914.

• 45:28Speaker 02

  However, again, no official kind of marriage certificate ever found to confirm this. But we do know that Anna did refer to him as her husband and he his wife. So if it wasn't legal, they at least kind of thought of each other in this regard. With Viktor writing, quote, "She was so lithe, so ethereal, so spiritual, so chaste, that one felt like going on one's knees before her." Which, I mean, come on, it's sweet. I do actually quite like him. Like I know he embezzled funds and was like a part of the Russian aristocracy, which gross. But he is obsessed with his wife, you know, which like, my divas, bare fucking minimum. Again, stealing government funds, not hot, but Viktor does make it up to Anna.

• 46:12Speaker 02

  Helping grow her dancing troupe from six initially to 60. Making the Pavlova show quite the production. As well as helping her manufacture something which would have a lasting impact, not only on her life, but on every single ballet dancer who followed. Her shoes. Now, to be clear, point shoes existed well before Anna Pavlova. But she is widely credited with creating the modern point shoe. With those available at the time being both uncomfortable and impractical. Especially for Anna, whose high foot arches made the shoes really unstable. So one day, her and Viktor kind of start experimenting, right?

• 46:53Speaker 02

  Cutting up tough leather soles and placing them inside her shoes to harden the box for more support. While using wood and various fabrics to make the rest of the shoe more curved. Therefore kind of easier to support her weight and stay elevated. Something, it's a bit of drama, bit of tea, right? Which many of her contemporaries considered to be cheating. Because back then, a ballerina, as opposed to her shoes, was meant to support herself. But Anna, she doesn't give a fuck about any of this, right? She just wants to like dance better. So in 1910, on her first trip to the US, she had her company outfitted in shoes made by Metropolitan Opera shoemaker Salvatore Capesio.

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  Launching what many consider to be the first international point shoe brand and one of the first influencer made products in ballet. This meant that Anna had a shoe collection that was comparable to that of Carrie Bradshaw in her later years, okay? Which she was photographed with for a press spotlight where she was surrounded by her collection of ballet slippers. Which the interviewer said, quote, "It may be of interest to the general public to learn that Pavlova has rarely less than 100 pairs of ballet shoes in work. And that some of her most favourite ones are at least 10 years old. A ballet shoe apparently takes as much breaking in as a new pipe." Which FYI, I don't know if you guys are on this side of TikTok, like if it's on your algorithm.

• 48:18Speaker 02

  But I am obsessed with watching ballet dancers like break in their shoes, like the crack. And they scratch them all and they sew in different ribbons and stuff. Like it is so satisfying, right? I could watch it all day. I wish TikTok was around when Anna Pavlova was around. Like I want to see her morning routines. I want to see her break her point shoes in. I want to see her costumes. Like, again, I'm just obsessed with this diva. So she's got fancy shoes, right? Something which became deeply synonymous with her fame, so much so that a single slipper worn by Anna sold for 5,460 pounds in 1930, which is about 550 to 620,000 US dollars today.

• 49:02Speaker 02

  So like other people are obsessed with her as well, not just me. But let's clock back into our timeline, right? Picking it back up in 1930, by which time Anna's lived through the First World War, the Russian Revolution, she's also done all of these international tours, she's married or not married Viktor, she's redefined the pointe shoe and has one of the most successful ballet companies in the world, really giving the ballet companies like of royal and imperial kind of courts in Europe a run for their money. So what's she do now, right? Like, it seems like she's done it all. Well, at the age of 49, her body was a little worse for wear, with contemporary accounts describing her as increasingly tired and troubled by a painful knee.

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  However, despite her age and niggles, she refused to ever consider retiring. Training harder and planning more tours, Anna remained the company's main attraction, with her and Viktor working hard to secure their team of dancers, musicians and other workers' futures. But she did at least get to spend large stretches of 1930 at home in Ivy House, performing for the season in London. Here, she hung out with her animals, tended to her garden and relaxed by the lake in between rehearsals and teaching, finishing out the season at Golders Green Hippodrome, which was just around the corner from her house on December 13th, 1930. A performance which would turn out to be her last.

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  Anna, however, didn't know this, setting off for a very short Christmas holiday on the French Riviera with Viktor, where they walked the landscape, played games and were all in all jolly. But even in this, there was no rest, with another European tour already being arranged in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and the Baltic region, which she and Viktor set out for on January 10th, 1931. Now, according to legend, it was on this train leaving from Cannes that Anna was forced to stand out in the freezing January air in nothing but thin pyjamas for over 12 hours after her train collided with another train near Dijon. Now, this is a recorded incident like the train crash, right?

• 51:15Speaker 02

  Which thankfully had no fatalities. But Viktor tells us a different story than the popular imagination, which said that you kind of, you know, standing out in the cold gave Anna pneumonia. He instead says that the star remained in her carriage while the repairs were done the whole time and instead caught the deadly disease from training in a cold Parisian studio days later. Regardless though, Anna Pavlova's health took a rapid turn downhill, with her personal doctor Zaluzki being called to attend to the star, who had fluid drained from her chest and serum administered to relieve her pain. Although, according to yet another legend, so much of like her final few days just surrounded by all of these like kind of mysteries, but she was reportedly offered more than

• 52:00Speaker 02

  just serum, but refused this like magical cure after doctors told her it would mean she could never dance again, which to me, guys, just sounds like codswallop. I don't know what kind of like cure or operation for pneumonia would mean she can't dance. But Anna believed them, right? With Viktor saying that she said, "I'd rather die than not dance." Again, this is all likely rumor, which is really connected and inspired by the dying swan motif, which she herself, you know, kind of embodied, really pushing herself to the limit, dancing in paid, and even in this bout of terrible, terrible sickness, was determined to take the stage.

• 52:42Speaker 02

  But this was just the delirium talking from her fever, with Viktor writing on the night of January 23rd that his wife lay there as the fever took her and turned to him, saying, "Get my swan costume ready," after which she closed her eyes and died. Shocked by the star's sudden passing, just three weeks before her 50th birthday, Anna's loyal maid Marguerite helped Viktor dress her body in her favorite beige lace dress, calling for a coffin full of lilacs, her favorite, which they placed Anna in themselves, wanting her to be last touched by loving hands before transporting her back to London. Here, her ashes were placed in the Golders Green crematorium just down the road from

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  Ivy House, where Viktor was also placed after his own death. Although even in this, there was more rumor that it was actually Anna's dying wish, somehow, for her ashes to be returned to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, a claim that was largely discredited and her remains were never touched. So Anna Pavlova, the greatest dancer in history, is dead.

• 53:50Speaker 02

  But how did her company, her society, her fans, honour the great Russian? Well, according to reports at the time, the company's first performance after her death, which featured the dying swan, went ahead, just as Anna would have wanted. However, instead of a prima ballerina lighting up the stage, there was nothing but a single spotlight circling as the crowd stood to their feet for a minute of silence in honour of the immortal swan. And while there's very few accounts or an exact location to verify this, I have to admit, I do love the idea that Anna was kind of honoured, you know, in such a way with her, her undying spirit, right? Living on through those she inspired to enjoy the brilliant art form that is ballet.

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  As for her adoptive home in Britain, thousands of fans filed past her coffin, which was put on display at London's Russian church, draped in the old Russian imperial flag, before her cremation at Golders Green, where, as we said, her ashes remain to this day, identifiable by the urn fit out with tiny ballet slippers. A lasting memorial to the great ballerina, whose real contribution was the democratisation of an art form that was largely considered a Russian luxury. Or, as Substack writer Sunil Badari puts it, "She believed ballet was for everyone, travelling the world and performing in some very odd places for it." From small country towns in Queensland, Australia, with populations of a couple of

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  thousand, to the biggest theatres in Europe, Anna went to and was influenced by all sorts of cultures for over two decades, scarcely missing a single show while laying the foundations for modern ballet, which she did to try and fulfil her mission. Spoken in her own words here, saying, quote, "I think that a real artist should irrevocably and completely dedicate herself to art, to give joy not only to the artist but also to the people, suspending them for a moment from life's sorrow, the awareness of which became the aim of my life." Which brings us to the end of another episode of Hot History. Guys, thank you so much for listening along and make sure to tune in next week because we are going to channel, right?

• 56:01Speaker 02

  Our inner Erling Haaland and not only talk about Vikings, guys, but we are talking about hidden Viking treasure, which I am going to go and see firsthand myself, interviewing the team at the Australian National Maritime Museum, who are currently playing hosts to the treasure hoard. And I'm taking you guys along with me, so strap in divas, it's gonna be a good one. Until then, if you are looking for some more hot history, you can follow us on Instagram and Substack at Hot History Club and on YouTube and TikTok at hot dot history. It has been a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you as always, and I will speak to you all very soon. Thanks so much, guys. Love you. Bye.

• 56:50Speaker 01

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