Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Chapters: Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Cyd Charisse, Alicia Markova, Mathilde Kschessinska, Lydia Lopokova, Ida Rubinstein, Five Moons, Tamara Karsavina, Vera Karalli, Moscelyne Larkin, Léonide Massine, Tamara Toumanova, Michel Fokine, Valentin Zeglovsky, Serge Lifar, André Eglevsky, Mia Corak Slavenska, Anton Dolin, Marina Svetlova, Genia Melikova, Mikhail Mordkin, Felia Doubrovska, Pierre Vladimiroff. Excerpt: Anna Pavlovna (Matveyevna) Pavlova (Russian: ) (1881¿1931) was a Russian ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the finest classical ballet dancers in history and was most noted as a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev. Pavlova is most recognised for the creation of the rôle The Dying Swan and, with her own company, would become the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world. Pavlova was born prematurely on January 31, 1881, in Ligovo, a suburb (now neighborhood) of Saint Petersburg, then the capital of the Russian Empire. Her mother was a laundress named Lyubov Feodorovna. The identity of her father has been open to debate. She later claimed her father (who was of possible Jewish origin) had died when she was two years old. Some sources, including The Saint Petersburg Gazette, have claimed that her illegitimate father was the banker Lazar Polyakov. Her mother's second husband, Matvey Pavlov, is believed to have adopted her at the age of three, by which she acquired her last name. Pavlova's passion for the art of ballet was ignited when her mother took her to a performance of Marius Petipa's original production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Imperial Maryinsky Theater. The lavish spectacle made an impression on the young Pavlova, and at the age of eight her mother took her to audition for the renowned Imperial Ballet School. She was not chosen due to her age and for what was considered to be a "sickly" appearance, but she was finally accepted at the age of 10 in 1891. She appeared for the first time on stage in Marius Petipa's Un conte de fées (A Fairy Tale), which the ballet master staged for the students of the school. The young Pavlova's years of training were difficult, as classical ballet did not come easily to her. Her severely arched feet, thin ankles, and long limbs clashed with the small and compact body in favor for the ballerina at the time. Her fell