Natalia Makarova

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Nataliya Romanovna Makarova is a ballet dancer. She was born November 21, 1940 in Leningrad in the USSR. When she was 13, she auditioned for the Vaganova Choreographic Institute despite being significantly older than most applicants. She was a performer with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad from 1956 to 1970. She made the decision to defect to the West while on tour in 1970, due to both personal and professional unhappiness.

After she defected, she performed with the American Ballet Theater and Royal Ballet. When she first defected, she was eager to expand her choreography by dancing ballets by modern choreographers. However, she remained most identified with classical roles like Swan Lake and Giselle. She was featured as Odette and Odile in a notable 1976 live American Ballet Theatre production of Swan Lake, simulcast from Lincoln Center on both PBS and NPR. According to the 2004 Britannica, "Makarova's magnificent technique and acting sensibilities allowed her to excel in many different roles", although she is remembered primarily for her title role in Giselle. She was slim and slight, and combined a delicacy and lyricism with impeccable classical training.

In 1989, Natalia Makarova returned to her home theater, the Kirov Ballet, and was reunited with all her old colleagues, teachers, and family. Her emotional homecoming was documented in a film, Makarova Returns. After her performance at the Kirov, she retired, dedicating her shoes and costumes to the Kirov Museum. Today Natalia Makarova stages ballets such as Swan Lake, La Bayadère, and Sleeping Beauty for companies across the world.

In addition to being one of the most famous ballerinas, Makarova won a Tony Award for her performance in the show On Your Toes. She appeared as Lydia Lopokova, (Lady Keynes) in 'Wooing in Absense' compiled by Patrick Garland. It was first performed at Charleston Farmhouse and then at Tate Britain.

Preceded by: Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls	Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical 1983 for On Your Toes	Succeeded by: Chita Rivera in The Rink

[edit] Trivia

Was romantically involved with Mikhail Baryshnikov.

She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1985 (1984 season) for Best Actress in a Musical for On Your Toes.

Fell for famed Royal Ballet dancer Anthony Dowell. She danced with him and felt a romantic connection to him. Unfortunately, because of his sexual preference, he could only offer her friendship at best.

When dancing at the Hamburg Ballet, she asked boy wonder Patrick Bissell from the ABT to be her partner. After the performance, he slashed his wrists.

During a rehearsal she had with fellow dancing legend Rudolph Nureyev, he had gotten angry at her and during a particular pas de deux, he simply let her fall. Makarova was furious, "I will never dance with that man again."

Considered by all who saw her dance to be the best of the twentieth century. Because of her perfect body, her grace and charm, she was believed to the most idealized and envied ballerina in the world at that time.

Despite the limited range the Kirov offered here which led to her famous defection, Makarova always said that it was thanks to the Russian school of ballet that she had become the ballerina she was.

Gold Medal from Second International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria, 1965.

Named honored artist of Russian Federation, 1969.

She is a great admirer of the art of Botticelli and is a painter herself.

Won a Tony as Best Actress in a Musical, for her performance as Vera in the 1983 Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical "On Your Toes".

Many ballerinas have admired her thin svelte body so much, they had starved themselves in order to achieve her body type.

Won Broadway's 1983 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for her performance of Vera in a revival of "On Your Toes."

Became the first ever Russian artistic exile to be invited back to dance in her native land.

In 1980, she staged the first full-length U.S. production of "La Bayadere", making ABT the first western company to acquire this work.

Her reunion with the Kirov Ballet took place in London on August 6, 1988 when she danced an excerpt from Swan Lake with the company.

In her native homeland of Russia, her name was banned for many years.

Her first public appearance (at age eleven) was somewhat diminished by her inability to maintain proper timing with the other members of the corps.

When she was in London with the Kirov, Makarova was assigned the title role in "Giselle," a character she had already danced to acclaim during her commencement performance in Leningrad. Dance critics heaped praise like "the supreme test of the actress-dancer" (Arlene Croce) London's critics hailed her as "one of ballet's most promising new performers, and New York City's critics seconded that appraisal. The New York Times's John Martin was particularly impressed with Makarova's poise in the slow movement, or adagio, which he described as "breathtakingly beautiful."

Despite all her talent she developed in the West, in all of her interviews, Makarova always said that it was thanks to the Russian school of ballet that she had become the ballerina she was. Limited range and political oppression aside, their dedication to the sport has always turned out the finest dancers.

She has worked with such choreographic talents as George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Maurice Bejart.

In 1980, she had her very own dancing troupe for a while called "Makarova and Company," following another stint with the ABT. She insisted that her company would provide dancers with "proper training" and present audiences with a sampling of Soviet-style ballet. She programmed works ranging from classical ballet by Petipa to modern ballet. But the critics more or less scathed it in publications. The New Yorker and Village Voice expressed displeasure with her self-manned artistic venture. New Yorker's Croce noted that the entire enterprise "had all the earmarks of a popular showcase," and the Voice's Deborah Jowitt contended that "rich trappings alone can't sustain [ballet]," adding that the works were simply "vehicles for the dancers." But like Baryshnikov, after her troupe folded, she continued dancing for herself.

Due to knee injuries, she gave up ballet and now teaches, stages and choreographs like many other reformed dancers. She also acts in plays and musicals.