Anna Pavlova. (Photograph from the Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.)

The greatest ballerina of her time, Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) was born in humble circumstances in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1899 she became a member of the Imperial Ballet, where her rare gifts quickly attracted attention. Blessed with ethereal lightness, she excelled in lyrical roles such as Nikiya in La Bayadère and the title role of Giselle. She was also unusually expressive, an aspect of her personality that Michel Fokine successfully exploited in The Dying Swan, which became her most famous solo. She made her first foreign tour in 1907 and the first of several whistle-stopping U.S. tours in 1910. Initially supported by a small group of Polish and Russian soloists, her company, founded in 1913, eventually included a number of Americans. In 1915 she joined forces with the Boston Grand Opera Company, giving joint performances of opera and ballet; the following year she filmed The Dumb Girl of Portici in Hollywood and staged an abridged version of The Sleeping Beauty at the New York Hippodrome. She carried the banner of classicism to the far corners of the United States and inspired a generation of young Americans to study ballet.

Anna Pavlova, ca. 1914. Photo by Claude Harris. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dance Division.