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Assoluta

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A BRIEF

INTRODU

CTION

2 Prima Ballerina Assoluta

P

rima ballerina assoluta is a title awarded to the most

notable of female ballet dancers. To be recognised

as a prima ballerina assoluta is a rare honour, traditionally

reserved only for the most exceptional dancers of

their generation.

Originally inspired by the Italian ballet masters of the

early Romantic ballet, and literally meaning absolute

first ballerina, the title was bestowed on a prima ballerina

who was considered to be exceptionally talented,

above the standard of other leading ballerinas.

The title is very rarely used today and recent uses

have typically been symbolic, either in recognition of

a prestigious international career, or for exceptional

service to a particular ballet company.

There is no universal procedure for designating who

may receive the title, which has led to dispute in the

ballet community over who can legitimately claim it. It is

usually a ballet company that bestows the title, however

some dancers have had the title officially sanctioned by

a government or head of state, sometimes for political

rather than artistic reasons. Less common is for a

dancer to become identified as a prima ballerina assoluta

as a result of public and critical opinion.

First Awarded

1863 - 1930

Milan, Italy

PIERINA

LEGNAN

I

Cinderella Cinderella 1893

Swanhilda Coppelia é

1894

Odette/Odile Swan Lake 1895

Ella The Talisman 1895

The Tsar Maiden The Tsar Maiden 1895

The Little Humpbacked Horse The Tsar Maiden 1895

The White Pearl The Pearl 1896

Ysaure de Renoualle Bluebeard 1896

Teresa The Cavalry Halt 1896

Raymonda Raymonda 1898

Medora Le Corsaire 1899

Camargo Les Eleves é

de Dupre é

1900

Marie Camargo La Camargo 1901

é

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PIERINA LEGNANI

Assoluta Una

1863 - 1930

Milan, Italy

Legnani was born on September 30,

1863, in Milan and originally studied

with famous ballet dancer Caterina Beretta

at La Scala, where she developed

her technical expertise. Her professional

career took off when she appeared

as prima ballerina in the Casati ballet,

Salandra, at Alhambra Theatre in London.

She was titled prima ballerina for La Scala

in 1892, before moving to St Petersburg

in 1892, where she reached fame

dancing with the Tsar’s Imperial Ballet at

the Maryinsky Theatre until 1901.

Under the direction of famous ballet

choreographer Marius Petipa, Legnani

originated numerous roles including,

‘Cinderella’ in 1893, ‘Swan Lake’ in 1895,

‘Raymonda’ in 1898, and ‘Carmargo’ in

1901. She is widely reputed to be the

first ballerina to perform 32 fouettés en

tournant in the coda of the Grand Pas

d’action of the ballet Cinderella.

The execution of 32 turns on pointe is a

bravura achievement emphasizing the

dancer’s strength and technique. A sequence

of 32 fouetté turns was later

choreographed into the Black Swan solo

in act 3 of ‘Swan Lake’ and is still used

to this day. Legnani was one of only two

ballet dancers appointed prima ballerina

assoluta at the Mariinsky Theatre.

Her last performance was in the

Minkus/Petipa ballet La Camargo on

January 28, 1901, after which she retired

to live in her villa at Lake Como.

After retiring from the stage she lived

in Italy and served on the examining

board of La Scala Ballet School until 4

months before her death. She died on

November 15, 1930.

2 Pierina Legnani

4 Pierina Legnani

Assoluta

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Pierina Legnani

Second Awarded

1872 - 1971

Paris, France

MATHIL

KSCHES

DE

The Marchioness The Sleeping Beauty 1890

Odette, the Stepsister Cinderella 1893

Flora, the Goddess of the Spring The Awakening of Flora 1894

The Yellow Pearl The Pearl 1896

Galatea Acis and Galatea 1896

Venus Bluebeard 1896

The Spirit of the Corn The Seasons 1900

Columbine Harlequinade 1900

The Princess The Magic Mirror 1903

The Fairy Doll The Fairy Doll 1903

SINSKA

Assoluta

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10 Mathilde Kschessinska

MATHILDE KSCHESSINSKA

Second Awarded

1872 - 1971

Paris, France

Matilda Kschessinskaya was the

second Prima Ballerina Assoluta of

the Imperial Theatres. She was born on

the 31st August 1872 in Saint Petersburg

to a Polish family that stemmed from a

dynasty of artists.

At the age of three, the young Matilda

Kschessinskaya already showed a love

for dancing and her father often took her

to watch performances at the Imperial

Theatres. In 1880, when she was eight

years old, Kschessinskaya was accepted

into the Imperial Ballet School, where

she trained under Lev Ivanov, Ekaterina

Vazem, Christian Johansson and Enrico

Cecchetti. Upon graduating from the

school in 1890, she joined the Imperial

Ballet and made her début in the

performance of a ballet divertissement

that was attended by the Imperial Family.

In 1896, she obtained the rank of Prima

ballerina of the Saint Petersburg Imperial

Theatres. The old maestro Marius

Petipa did not consent to Kschessinskaya

receiving such a title and although

she possessed an extraordinary gift as a

dancer, she obtained it primarily via her

influence at the Imperial Russian Court.

Mathilde Kschessinskaya

costumed for the title role

in Petipa , s La Camargo. St.

Petersburg, c. 1902

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costumed for La Camargo.

St. Petersburg, c. 1902

ii. Matilda Kschessinskaya as

Niriti in Nikolai Legat,s

revival of The Talisman

ca. 1909


ii.

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While Kschessinska could be charming

and kind to colleagues, such

as the young Tamara Karsavina, she was

not afraid to use her connections with

the Tsar to strengthen her position in the

Imperial Theatres.

She was known to sew valuable jewels

into her costumes and came on stage

as the Princess Aspicia in The Pharaoh’s

Daughter wearing her diamond encrusted

tiaras and chokers.

She could also be ruthless with rivals.

One of her most famous miscalculations

occurred when, while pregnant in 1902,

she coached Anna Pavlova in the role

of Nikya in La Bayadère. She considered

Pavlova to be technically weak and

believed that the young ballerina could

not upstage her. Instead, audiences

became enthralled with the frail, longlimbed,

ethereal-looking Pavlova, and a

star was born.

ii.

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Petersburg, c. 1902

ii.

Matilda Kschessinskaya

as Princess Aspicia

1898


Kschessinskaya in costume

for The Pharaoh , s Daughter.

c. 1898

Another notorious incident occurred

in 1906 when Kschessinska’s coveted

role of Lise in the Petipa/Ivanov production

of La Fille Mal Gardée was given

to Olga Preobrajenska. One feature of

this production was the use of live chickens

on stage. Before Preobrajenska’s

variation in the Pas de ruban of the first

act, Kschessinska opened the doors to

the chickens’ coops and, at the first note

of the music, the chickens went flying

about the stage. Nevertheless, Preobrajenska

continued her variation to the end

and received a storm of applause, much

to Kschessinska’s chagrin.

Assoluta

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Matilda Kschessinskaya

as Esmeralda.

c. 1899

Third Awarded

1910 - 2004

London, England

ALICIA

MARKO

The Dying Swan The Dying Swan 1930 , s

The Firebird The Firebird 1945

Giselle Giselle 1938

Juliet Romeo and Juliet 1942

The Nightingale Le Rossignol 1926

La Sylphide La Sylphide 1953

Odette and Odile Swan Lake -

Sugar-Plum Fairy The Nutcracker 1940

Swanhilda Coppelia é

-

VA

Assoluta

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ALICIA MARKOVA

Third Awarded

1910 - 2004

London, England

Dame Alicia Markova was a British ballerina

and a choreographer, director

and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted

for her career with Sergei Diaghilev’s

Ballets Russes and touring internationally,

she was widely considered to be one of

the greatest classical ballet dancers of

the twentieth century.

She was the first British dancer to

become the principal dancer of a ballet

company and, with Dame Margot Fonteyn,

is one of only two English dancers to be

recognised as a prima ballerina assoluta.

Markova was a founder dancer of the

Rambert Dance Company, The Royal

Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. She

was also a co-founder and director of

the English National Ballet.

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

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M

arkova retired from professional

dancing in January 1963 at the

age of 52. Following her retirement, she

continued to play an active role in the

ballet and theatre industry as a teacher,

director and choreographer. She was responsible

for staging a number of ballets

that she had performed with the Ballets

Russes, also coaching dancers for roles

she had created for choreographers such

as Sir Frederick Ashton.

As a teacher she presented televised

master classes and was also appointed

Professor of Ballet and Performing Arts

at the University of Cincinnati. In her

later years, she continued to be a regular

member of the teaching faculty for residential

ballet courses such as the Yorkshire

Ballet Seminars and the Abingdon

Ballet Seminars, and was also President

and a regular guest teacher at the Arts

Educational Schools in London and Tring.

She was also a governor and regular

guest teacher at the Royal Ballet School.

Fourth Awarded

1910 - 1998

Saint Petersburg, Russia

GALINA

ULANOV

A

Princess Florine Sleeping Beauty 1928

Aurora Sleeping Beauty 1928

Odette and Odile Swan Lake 1929


Solveig Snow Maiden Edvard Grieg 1931


Waltz and Mazurka Chopiniana 1933

Tsar-Maiden The Humpbacked Horse 1934

Maria The Fountain of Bakhchisaray 1934

Diana La Esmeralda 1935

Corali Lost illusions 1936

Juliette Romeo and Juliette 1939

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova

GALINA ULANOVA

Third Awarded

1910 - 2004

London, England

Ulanova was born in Saint Petersburg,

Russia. Both parents were the soloists

of the Mariinsky theatre and danced

with Anna Pavlova. Later the father became

a director and the mother started

teaching ballet. Ulanova recalled that

she ‘never had a choice to pick a career’

and due to the parents, ballet was her

only option. As a child she had different

aspirations and dreamed of becoming

a sailor. She said she feared having the

life of artists with lots of labour and no

sleep. Nevertheless, the parents took her

to the ballet school in a very young age,

because pension was the only way to

guarantee food to a child in that difficult

and hungry time. Ulanova studied under

Agrippina Vaganova and her mother.

Ulanova was a great actress as well as a

dancer, and when she was finally allowed

to tour abroad at the age of 46, enraptured

British papers wrote that “Galina

Ulanova in London knew the greatest triumph

of any individual dancer since Anna

Pavlova”. Having retired from the stage at

the age of 50, she coached many generations

of the Russian dancers.

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When she joined the Mariinsky

Theatre in 1928, the press found in

her “much of Semyonova’s style, grace,

the same exceptional plasticity and a sort

of captivating modesty in her gestures”.

They say that Konstantin Stanislavsky,

fascinated with her acting style, implored

her to take part in his stage productions.

In 1944, when her fame reached

Joseph Stalin, he had her transferred to

the Bolshoi Theatre, where she would

be the prima ballerina assoluta for 16

years. The following year, she danced the

title role in the world premiere of Sergei

Prokofiev’s Cinderella.

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

YVETTE

CHAUVR

Fifth Awarded

1917 - 2016

Paris, France

IE É

- Le Roi Nu 1936

- David Triomphant 1937

- Alexandre le Grand 1937

- Le Chevalier et Damoiselle 1941

- Istar 1941


Persian Fairy La Peri 1946

- Chota Roustaveli 1946

- Cressida 1946

- Nauteos 1947

The Dying Swan The Dying Swan 1950


Assoluta

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YVETTE CHAUVRIEÉ

Fifth Awarded

1917 - 2016

Paris, France

Yvette Chauviré was a French prima

ballerina and actress. She is often

described as France’s greatest ballerina,

and was the coach of prima ballerinas

Sylvie Guillem and Marie-Claude Pietragalla.

She was awarded the Légion

d’Honneur in 1964.

Born in Paris, at 10 years of age, in

1927, she entered the Paris Opera Ballet

school, and at the age of 12 she was

noticed for her performance in the children’s

ballet L’Eventail de Jeanne. When

she was 13, she was invited to join the

opera’s ballet company.

Chauviré rose through the ranks of

dancers at the Paris Opera Ballet,

becoming principal dancer in 1937

and étoile, the highest rank, in 1941.

She was the star of a number of experimental

works choreographed by the

company’s director Serge Lifar, including

Alexandre le Grand, Istar, Suite en Blanc

and Les Mirages. Lifar also encouraged

her to study with two Russian choreographers

Boris Kniaseff and Victor Gsovsky,

who influenced her style towards lyricism

and away from her hard-lined academic

training.

During her time with the Paris Opera

Ballet in 1953, she widened her range of

roles and began to perform in more classical

productions such as Giselle, Sleeping

Beauty and The Nutcracker. The role

of Giselle became a particular passion for

Chauviré, and she considered it her

signature piece amongst her career.

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10 Alicia Markova

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

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10 Alicia Markova

Assoluta

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Y

Chauviré retired from the Paris Opera

Ballet in 1956, but continued to

appear with the company until 1972. She

was also co-director of the Paris Opera

Ballet school from 1963 to 1968, and

taught Sylvie Guillem and Marie-Claude

Pietragalla. She choreographed some

short ballets herself. In 1970, she became

Director of the International Academy of

Dance, in Paris.

In a 1989 interview, she characterised

contemporary style as becoming “more

and more slipshod”, and criticised the

fashion for “extreme” ballet movements as

risking injury to the dancer. She said she

had tried during her career, “to simplify,

within the greatest technical difficulty”.

Sixth Awarded

1920 - 2019

Havana, Cuba

ALICIA

ALONSO


Odette/Odile Swan Lake 1943

Principal Dancer Undertow 1943

Principal Dancer Theme and Variations 1947

The Accused Fall River Legend 1948

Carmen Carmen -

Aurora Sleeping Beauty -

Kitri Don Quixote -




Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova

ALICIA ALONSO

Sixth Awarded

1920 - 2019

Havana, Cuba

Alicia Alonso was a Cuban prima

ballerina assoluta and choreographer

whose company became the Ballet

Nacional de Cuba in 1955. She is best

known for her portrayals of Giselle and

the ballet version of Carmen.

Alonso was born “on the outskirts”

of Havana in 1920, the fourth child of

Antonio Martínez Arredondo, lieutenant

veterinarian of the army, and Ernestina

del Hoyo y Lugo, a dressmaker. Alonso

began dancing as a child. In June 1931

she began studying ballet at Sociedad

Pro-Arte Musical in Havana with Nikolai

Yavorsky.

She performed publicly for the first

time on 29 December 1931, aged 11. Her

first serious debut was in Tchaikovsky’s

Sleeping Beauty at the Teatro Auditorium

on 26 October 1932. Early in her career

in Cuba, she danced under the name of

Alicia Martínez.

Progress in her lessons came to an

abrupt halt in 1937 when Alonso fell in

love with a fellow ballet student, Fernando

Alonso, whom she married at age 16

The couple moved to New York City, hoping

to begin their professional careers.

There they found a home with relatives

on the Upper West Side of Manhattan,

near Riverside Drive. She gave birth to a

daughter, Laura, in 1938, but continued

her training at the School of American

Ballet. In 1938, she made her debut in the

U.S., performing in the musical comedies

Great Lady and Stars In Your Eyes.

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Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

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After seeing the doctor for worsening

vision problems, Alonso was

diagnosed in 1941 with a detached retina

and had surgery to correct the problem.

Following the operation, she was ordered

to have bed rest for 3 months so her eyes

could completely heal. Unable to comply

fully, Alonso practiced with her feet,

pointing and stretching to “keep my feet

alive”, as she put it.

When the bandages came off, she

discovered the operation had not been

completely successful. After a second

surgery was performed, doctors concluded

Alonso would never have peripheral

vision. She consented to a third procedure

in Havana but this time was ordered

to have bed rest for an entire year.

Her husband sat with her every day,

using their fingers to teach her the great

dancing roles of classical ballet.

She recalled, “I danced in my mind. Blinded,

motionless, flat on my back, I taught

myself to dance Giselle.”

Finally allowed to leave her bed,

dancing could still not be considered.

Against doctor’s orders, she went to the

ballet studio down the street every day

to practice. Just as her hope was returning,

Alonso was injured when a hurricane

shattered a door in her home, spraying

glass splinters onto her head and face.

Amazingly, her eyes were not injured.

When her doctor saw this, he cleared

Alonso to begin dancing, figuring if she

could survive an explosion of glass,

dancing could do no harm. Her partners

always had to be in the exact place she

expected them to be during her performances,

and she used lights in different

parts of the stage to guide herself.




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Alonso danced solos in Europe and

elsewhere well into her 70s. She

continued to serve as the director of the

Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and is quoted as

saying, she will remain “in charge of the

ballet until after she is dead”. As director

and leading dancer of the Ballet Nacional

de Cuba, she taught many now notable

dancers in Cuba and beyond. Some

of her former students have danced or

dance with the American Ballet Theatre,

the Boston Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet,

the Washington Ballet, the Cincinnati

Ballet and the Royal Ballet, among others.

i.

Seventh Awarded

1925 - 2015

Moscow, Russia

MAYA

PLISETSK

Odette-Odile Swan Lake 1947

Swanhilda Spartacus 1958


Mistress of the Copper Mountain Stone Flower 1959


Black Swan Swan Lake 1962

Kitri Don Quixote 1962


Mahmene Banu The Legend of Love 1965

Carmen Carmen Suite 1967

Isadora Isadora 1976

The Dying Swan The Dying Swan 1980

AYA

Assoluta

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MAYA PLISETSKAYA

Third Awarded

1925 - 2015

London, England

Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya was a

Soviet ballet dancer, choreographer,

ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet

times, she held both Lithuanian and

Spanish citizenship. She danced during

the Soviet era at the Bolshoi Theatre under

the directorships of Leonid Lavrovsky,

then of Yury Grigorovich; later she moved

into direct confrontation with him. In 1960

when Galina Ulanova, another famed Russian

ballerina retired, Plisetskaya became

prima ballerina assoluta of the company.

Plisetskaya studied ballet at The

Bolshoi Ballet School from age nine, and

she first performed at the Bolshoi Theatre

when she was eleven. She studied ballet

under the direction of Elizaveta Gerdt

and also her aunt, Sulamith Messerer.

Graduating in 1943 at the age of eighteen,

she joined the Bolshoi Ballet company,

quickly rising to become their leading

soloist. In 1959, during the Thaw Time,

she started to tour outside the country

with the Bolshoi, then on her own. Her

fame as a national ballerina was used

to project the Soviet Union’s achievements

during the Cold War. Premier

Nikita Khrushchev considered her to be

“not only the best ballerina in the Soviet

Union, but the best in the world.”

She set a higher standard for ballerinas,

both in terms of technical brilliance

and dramatic presence.

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Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

Among her most acclaimed roles were

Kitri in Don Quixote, Odette-Odile

in Swan Lake, and The Dying Swan, first

danced as a pre-graduate student under

the guidance of Sulamith Messerer. A

fellow dancer said that her dramatic portrayal

of Carmen, reportedly her favorite

role, “helped confirm her as a legend, and

the ballet soon took its place as a landmark

in the Bolshoi repertoire.” Her husband,

composer Rodion Shchedrin, wrote

the scores to a number of her ballets.

Having become “an international

superstar” and a continuous “box office

hit throughout the world,” Plisetskaya

was treated by the Soviet Union as a

favored cultural emissary. Although she

toured extensively during the same years

that other prominent dancers defected,

including Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova,

and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Plisetskaya

always refused to defect.

10 Alicia Markova

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Petersburg, c. 1902

Eighth Awarded

1948 - 2009

Geneva, Switzerland

EVA

EVDOKI



The Sylph La Slyphide -

MOVA

Assoluta

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Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova

EVA EVDOKIMOVA

Eighth Awarded

1948 - 2009

Geneva, Switzerland

Born in Geneva, Switzerland to a stateless

Bulgarian father and an American

mother Evdokimova, an American citizen

from birth, began her ballet studies as a

child in Munich. She later attended the

Royal Ballet School in London, where she

studied for several years under the direction

of Maria Fay. In 1966, she became

the first non-Danish dancer to join the

Royal Danish Ballet, where she continued

her studies under Vera Volkova.

She graduated into the Berlin Opera

Ballet in 1969, where she danced her first

Giselle in 1971. She was promoted to prima

ballerina in 1973, a position she held

for 12 years. For many years she was also

the leading ballerina of the London Festival

Ballet (now English National Ballet),

where she was chosen by Rudolf Nureyev

to dance the first Princess Aurora in his

production of The Sleeping Beauty with

the company in 1975.

Throughout her career, she danced

with virtually every major international

ballet company including the Kirov

Ballet, where she was coached by Natalia

Dudinskaya, the American Ballet Theater,

and the Paris Opera Ballet. She was frequently

paired with Nureyev. Their partnership

lasted over fifteen years and they

performed hundreds of times together.

After a performance with the Kirov

Ballet she was awarded the title “Prima

Ballerina Assoluta.” Subsequently, she

was billed that way internationally.

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Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

Ninth Awarded

1919 - 1991

Reigate, England

MARGO

FONTEY

T

N


Lead Role Symphonic Variations 1946

La Morte Amoureuse Don Juan 1948


Female Lead Ballet Imperial 1950

Lady Dulcinea-Aldonza Lorenzo Don Quixote 1950

Sylvia Sylvia 1952

Female Lead La Peri 1956




Assoluta

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MARGOT FONTEYN

Ninth Awarded

1919 - 1991

Reigate, England

Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE,

known by the stage name Margot

Fonteyn spent her entire career as a

dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually

being appointed prima ballerina assoluta

of the company by Queen Elizabeth II.

Beginning ballet lessons at the age of

four, she studied in England and China,

where her father was transferred for his

work. Her training in Shanghai was with

George Goncharov, contributing to her

continuing interest in Russian ballet.

Returning to London at the age of 14, she

was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet

School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded

Alicia Markova as prima ballerina

of the company in 1935. The Vic-Wells

choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton,

wrote numerous parts for Fonteyn and

her partner, Robert Helpmann, with whom

she danced from the 1930s to the 1940s.

Her performance in Tchaikovsky’s

The Sleeping Beauty became a distinguishing

role for both Fonteyn and the

company, but she was also well known for

the ballets created by Ashton, including

Symphonic Variations, Cinderella, Daphnis

and Chloe, Ondine and Sylvia.

Thanks to her international acclaim

and many guest artist requests, the

Royal Ballet allowed Fonteyn to become

a freelance dancer in 1959.




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

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Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

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In 1961, when Fonteyn was considering

retirement, Rudolf Nureyev defected

from the Kirov Ballet while dancing in Paris.

Fonteyn, though reluctant to partner

with him because of their 19-year age

difference, danced with him in his début

with the Royal Ballet in Giselle on 21 February

1962. The duo immediately became

an international sensation, each dancer

pushing the other to their best performances.

They were most noted for their

classical performances in works such as

Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, Les Sylphides,

La Bayadère, Swan Lake, and Raymonda,

in which Nureyev sometimes adapted

choreographies specifically to showcase

their talents. The pair premièred Ashton’s

Marguerite and Armand, which had been

choreographed specifically for them,

and were noted for their performance in

the title roles of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s

Romeo and Juliet. The following year,

Fonteyn’s husband was shot during an

assassination attempt and became a

quadriplegic, requiring constant care for

the remainder of his life. In 1972, Fonteyn

went into semi-retirement, although she

continued to dance periodically until

the end of the decade. In 1979, she was

fêted by the Royal Ballet and officially

pronounced the prima ballerina assoluta

of the company. She retired to Panama,

where she spent her time writing books,

raising cattle, and caring for her husband.

She died from ovarian cancer exactly 29

years after her premiere with Nureyev in

the production, Giselle.

Tenth Awarded

1953 - Present

Bogota, Colombia

ANNELI

ALHANK

O

Odette/Odile Swan Lake -

The Dying Swan The Dying Swan -




Miss Julie Miss Julie 1977

Katherina Taming of the Shrew 1978

Swanhilda Coppelia 1980

Manon Manon 1980


Nikiya La Bayadere 1989

Tatiana Onegin 1990

Titiana A Midsummer Nights Dream 1990

Assoluta

9

10 Alicia Markova

ANNELI ALHANKO

Tenth Awarded

1953 - Present

Bogota, Colombia

Anneli Elisabeth Alhanko Skoglund is

a Swedish ballet dancer and actress.

She is the daughter of the Finnish consul

Erkki Alhanko, who was stationed in

Colombia when she was born.

From 1971-1997 she was employed by

the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm,

Sweden. She became one of the ballet

company’s premier prima ballerinas. She

is one of twelve in the world with the title

prima ballerina assoluta.

Alhanko is also one of the founders of

the dance school Base 23 which opened

in Stockholm January 2010.

Anneli Alhanko is aunt to the actress

Josephine Alhanko, Miss Sweden 2006.




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

9




Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

9




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

Eleventh Awarded

1943 - 2008

Johannesburg, South Africa

PHYLLIS

SPIRA

Pas de Trois Les Rendezvouz 1961

Leading Role Danses Concertantes 1961

Phyllis Phyllis 1962

Pineapple Poll Pineapple Poll 1963



Sylvia Sylvia 1966

The Sugar Plum Fairy The Nutcracker 1966



Kitri Don Quixote 1970

Assoluta

9

PHYLLIS SPIRA

Eleventh Awarded

1943 - 2008

Johannesburg, South Africa

Phyllis Spira was a South African ballet

dancer who began her career with the

Royal Ballet in England. Upon returning

to South Africa, she spent twenty-eight

years as prima ballerina of CAPAB Ballet,

a professional company in Cape Town

named for the Cape Performing Arts

Board. In 1984 she was named the first

(and currently only) South African Prima

Ballerina Assoluta.

When she was 4 years old, little Phyllis

was enrolled in ballet classes, where, even

at that tender age, she showed talent for

dancing. The primary schools and highschools

she attended only offered ballet

as extracurricular activities.

At 15, her headmistress, recognizing

her exceptional talent, obtaining permis-

sion to leave school at the end of the

tenth grade to pursue her dance training.

Soon thereafter, she was offered a

chance to attend the Royal Ballet School

in London where she travelled to alone.

Having arrived in London in May 1959,

Spira began training at the Royal Ballet

School when she was just 16. Her special

qualities of movement soon caused

favorable comment. Ninette de Valois,

director of the school, referred to her as

“a baby Markova,” comparing her to the

famous British ballerina Alicia Markova.

Awarded a scholarship, Spira progressed

quickly through the course of study. After

only a few months, she made her debut in

a performance of Swan Lake. She was 17

years old at the time.

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

9

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

9

A

fter leaving the stage in 1988, Spira

served as principal ballet mistress

of CAPAB Ballet until 1999, during which

time the company was renamed as Cape

Town City Ballet. She and her husband,

Philip Boyd, a former CAPAB dancer

whom she had married in 1986, had no

children, so they devoted their energies

to community service. Appointed head

of the David Poole Trust Youth Training

Program, she and Boyd ran the Dance for

All program initiated by Poole some years

earlier. Set up to take dance to underprivileged

children living in non-white

townships, it was active in Gugulethu,

Nyanga, and Khayelitsha on the borders

of Cape Town and in the rural inland

areas of Barrydale and Montagu. The program

reached more than seven hundred

children each year.

10 Alicia Markova

Twelfth Awarded

1963 - Present

Milan, Italy

ALESSA

FERRI

NDRA



Manon Manon 1983


Anastasia Anastasia 1985

Carmen Carmen 1988


Titania The Dream 1990

The Accused Fall River Legend 1991

The Sylph La Sylphide 1993

The Youngest Sister Pillar of Fire 1998

Camargo Les Eleves de Dupre 1900

Katherina The Taming of the Shrew 2003

i.

9

10 Alicia Markova

ALESSANDRA FERRI

Twelfth Awarded

1963 - Present

Milan, Italy

Alessandra Ferri is an Italian prima

ballerina. She danced with the Royal

Ballet (1980–1984), American Ballet Theatre

(1985–2007) and La Scala Theatre

Ballet (1992–2007) and as an international

guest artist, before temporally retiring

on 10 August 2007, aged 44, then returning

in 2013. She was eventually granted

the rank of prima ballerina assoluta.

She began studying ballet at the La

Scala Theatre Ballet School, later transferring

to the upper school of the Royal

Ballet School. She represented the

Royal Ballet School in the 1980 Prix de

Lausanne, winning a scholarship which

enabled her to continue studying at the

very same school.

i.




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

9




Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova

i.




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

9




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

9

i.

i. Mathilde Kschessinskaya

i.



Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova

i.

Thirteenth Awarded

1940 - present


NATALIA

MAKAR




Principal Dancer Elite Syncoptaion 1976

Principal Dancer Voluntaries 1977


Principal Dancer A Month in the Country 1984


Manon Manon 1985

Tatiana Onegin 1988

Nikiya La Bayadere 1991

OVA

Assoluta

9

NATALIA MAKAROVA

Thirteenth Awarded

1940 - present


Natalia Romanovna Makarova is a

Soviet-Russian-born prima ballerina

and choreographer. The History of Dance,

published in 1981, notes that “her performances

set standards of artistry and

aristocracy of dance which mark her as

the finest ballerina of her generation in

the West.”

Makarova was a permanent member

of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad from 1956

to 1970, achieving prima ballerina status

during the 1960s. She defected to the

West on September 4, 1970, while on tour

with the Kirov in London. Soon after defecting,

Makarova began performing with

the American Ballet Theatre in New York

City and the Royal Ballet in London.

At the time, she remained most identified

with classical roles such as Odette/

Odile in Swan Lake and Giselle.

In 1989, she returned to her home

theater of the Kirov Ballet and was reunited

with her family and with former colleagues

and teachers.

Today Makarova stages ballets such

as Swan Lake, La Bayadère, and Sleeping

Beauty for companies across the world.

She retired from dancing due to accumulating

injuries, especially to her knees.

Makarova won a Tony Award, as well as

numerous other stage awards for her

performances in the Broadway revival of

On Your Toes.

Assoluta

9




Petersburg, c. 1902

10 Alicia Markova




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta

9




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

10

Assoluta

9




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

10




Petersburg, c. 1902




Petersburg, c. 1902

Assoluta_Test_1

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