Makarova Natalia, ballerina: biography, creativity, achievements, personal life

The outstanding ballerina Natalia Makarova, whose biography has acquired various legends, left a notable mark in the world of contemporary choreography. Her path is a path of strength and creativity, she continues to work, and the fruits of her inspiration continue to please thousands of people.

Childhood

In Leningrad on November 21, 1940 a girl named Natalia Makarova was born, a ballerina whose family had nothing to do with the dance. Moreover, her mother was negative about the profession of the ballet actress, she seemed to her frivolous and unreliable. She dreamed of seeing her daughter as a doctor or an engineer. The girl's father - the architect died in the war, and my mother, who raised her daughter alone, wanted to give the child a good life start. Natalia was a good student at school, and she had every chance of getting a stable profession. But the girl at the same time had amazing natural data: flexibility, hearing, plastic. Since childhood, she was engaged in gymnastics, and the trainers were amazed at her abilities, Natalia was told that she seemed to have no bones, and advised to do dancing. Moreover, Natalia really liked the ballet, even in her childhood she reviewed the entire repertoire of the Opera and Ballet Theater. S. Kirov.

Study

Young Natalia Makarova, a ballerina from God, went to the choreographic studio of the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers, where she immediately stood out from the general mass of students. Her amazing data did not go unnoticed, and the teachers recommended her to go to the screening tests at the ballet school Vaganova. This year, the choreography school recruited an experimental class, which was attended by children from 12-13 years old, in contrast to the usual reception from 9 years. Thus, Makarova had to pass a program designed for 9 years, only 6. But she successfully coped with this task. Her teacher was Elena Vasilievna Shiripina - a student of A. Vaganova and a devoted keeper of her methods of training ballerinas. Already in the years of study, the young dancer attracted the attention of not only teachers, but also directors. Her outstanding data and talent foreshadowed the significant success of the ballerina. Already at the school she mastered the classical repertoire, in particular, danced Adagio in "Swan Lake". There she had the opportunity to work with a great choreographer, who was forbidden to work in the USSR, Kasyan Goleizovsky, and find a fellow-minded person - Nikita Dolgushin.

Career of the Soviet ballerina

Immediately after graduation from the school, Natalia Makarova, a ballerina of one of the best theaters in the world, she enlisted in the troupe of the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater, and four years later she took the prima of this theater. At first she works in the corps de ballet, but thanks to the high-tech technique she quickly gets to the top positions. At that time, the main productions in the theater were performed by K. Sergeev, he was once an excellent dancer, but as a director he was very mediocre. He could not fully use the romantic potential of Natalia Makarova, she had difficulty mastering Odette Odile's role in Swan Lake.

A great success for her was the meeting with the nonconformist ballet-master Leonid Jakobson, who notices the young dancer and invites the performance "Choreographic Miniatures". He was able to see the character of the ballerina, her talent for dramatic and lyrical roles, and this allowed her to gradually get her star repertoire. For 11 years of working in the theater, Natalia Makarova, an extra-class ballerina, danced the entire classical repertoire: Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Chopiniana, Bakhchisarai Fountain, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella ". She was also lucky to perform the roles in the innovative productions of L. Jacobson "The Bedbug", "Novels of Love" and "The Land of Wonders". She also has to participate in the performances of K. Sergeev: "Far-away Planet", "Sleeping Beauty", "Swan Lake".

In the late 60s, Natalia Makarova, ballerina No. 1 of the Kirov Theater, was injured, and doctors advised her to quit her career. But she showed considerable courage and willpower and returned to the stage.

By 1970 Makarova became the unconditional prima of the Kirov theater, she toured extensively throughout the country, she was reluctant to release abroad. At that time, the theater had a difficult atmosphere: envy, competition, the dominance of ideology, the pressure of party figures on dancers and directors, the lack of freedom - all this prevents the ballet star from developing. A large number of bright and interesting performances did not miss censorship, for example, the viewer did not see Igor Chernyshov's "Romeo and Julia", Jacobson's ballets "Jewish Wedding" and "Twelve". Foreign tours were perceived as incredible happiness, although during them the dancers were carefully watched by representatives of special services, they tried to ensure that artists did not intersect with the apostates left abroad. So, Makarov was carefully guarded against meeting with Rudolph Nuriev, who fled abroad.

Makarova sought self-realization, she did not want to go the beaten paths, rebelled against the system of the academic theater, her artistic talent, eroticism did not fit into the canons of the then Soviet theater. The ballerina dreamed of more, and all this formed the inner motivation for her future unexpected act.

Leap into the unknown

In 1970, on the tour of the Kirov Theater in London, Natalia makes an unexpected decision - she asks for political asylum in the UK and cuts off her way to her homeland. Her relatives, who remained in the USSR, were subjected to severe pressure, the authorities wanted to return the fugitive. But Makarova was able to endure everything and in a short time she found a way to provide material support to her relatives.

Career dancer in the West

Natalia Makarova, a ballerina, whose height is 163 cm, was able to make a dizzying career, especially when you consider that she was already 28 years old at the time of emigration. She was able to fully realize herself in the theater, having obtained the desired freedom. After the escape she moved to New York, where she began her ascent to the Olympus of the world ballet. She was able to dance the entire classical repertoire, as well as take part in modern productions of the most outstanding choreographers. She was for many years the primal of the American Ballet Theater, she worked at the Royal London Ballet, and also collaborated with the troupes of Paris, Hamburg, Marseilles, Sweden, Canada and many other theaters around the world. She had the opportunity to work with the greatest directors of the 20th century: Balanchine, Lifar, Chernyshov, Petit, Bezhar, Ashton, Normayer, who made plays for her.

In addition, she realized herself as a dramatic actress, playing in the play "On Pointes" on Broadway and receiving several prestigious awards for this role, as well as in the play "Comrade" J. Duval and the production of R. Viktyuk "Two on a swing." She also records audio versions of fairy tales for children in Russian and English.

In 1989, Makarova was invited to Russia, where she gave a brilliant benefit on the stage of her native theater, and from that time she regularly collaborates with the Russian ballet.

Choreographer-director Makarova Natalia Romanovna

In 1974, Natalia Makarova made her debut as a choreographer, she puts scenes from the "La Bayadere" at the American Ballet Theater. Subsequently, leaving the career of a dancer, Natalia Makarova focused on the work of the director, she to this day successfully put the performances around the world. The most outstanding her works were the productions "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", "La Bayadere", "Giselle", "Paquita".

The best performances

In the repertoire of Natalia Makarova a huge number of outstanding performances, this is almost the entire classical repertoire in various editions: Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Firebird, The Nutcracker, Cinderella ". And also a huge number of modern productions: Onegin by D. Crenco, Phenomena and Month in the Village by F. Ashton, Carmen and Proust, or Failures of the Heart by R. Petit, D. Normoyer's Epilogue and others .

Great Partners

Natalia Makarova was lucky with partners, she dances with many stars in the Kirov Theater: N. Dolgushin, K. Sergeev, M. Baryshnikov. And after moving to the West with her a lot of great dancers got up. Her first party in the west, she performs with Rudolph Nuriev. It was with her dancing after leaving the USSR, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Alexander Godunov. Also among its partners were such stars as Ivan Nachev, Anthony Dowell, Eric Brun, Derek Dean, John Prince.

Personal life

Dancers often sacrifice their family life and personal happiness for the sake of their careers, but there are lucky ones who are able to combine everything, one of them is Natalia Makarova. The ballerina, whose personal life was quite successful, was twice married. The first marriage with the director Leonid Kvinikhidze has disintegrated, and with the second husband, the American businessman, millionaire Edward Karkar, she lives till now. The dancer in 1978 gave birth to Andrei's son and was able to quickly return the ballet form, telling that after the appearance of the child she had a "second creative breath". Ballerina Makarova Natalia and her house saw many outstanding people, she was friends with Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, communicated with all the outstanding choreographers and dancers of our time. She received the award from the hands of US President Barack Obama for his contribution to the development of American culture.