International Dance Competition

Natalia Makarova

​

Began her career in her native Leningrad, entering the

Vaganova Academy at the age of 13 into a special class condensing the 9-year program

to six years. After graduating, she joined the Kirov Ballet, rapidly rising to the rank of

Ballerina.

               She came to international prominence in 1961 when, with the Kirov Ballet in

London, she danced Giselle, which was to become one of her signature roles. She won

the Gold Medal in Varna in l965 and the Anna Pavlova Award in Paris in 1970.

On 4 September l970, while on tour in London with the Kirov, Makarova took the

step, which changed her life forever by requesting asylum in Britain. She began her new

career by joining American Ballet Theater and her long association with the Royal Ballet

began in 1972.

She has appeared as guest artist with major ballet companies throughout

the world. Her repertory includes all the classical ballets and works of contemporary

choreographers such as Tudor, MacMillan, Ashton, Robbins, Balanchine, Béjart, Petit,

Neumeier, Tetley, Ailey, Ulf Gadd and Cranko. She won the London Evening Standard

Award in 1985 for her performance in Cranko’s Onegin presented by Princess Diana.

Among the ballets & pas de deux created for Makarova are Robbin’s Other Dances (With

Baryshnikov); Ashton’s Le Rossignol (With Dowell); Tetley’s Contredances (With

Dowell); Neumeier’s Epilogue (With Bruhn); Bejart’s Mephisto (With Donn); Petit’s

Blue Angel; and a MacMillan Pas de Deux (With MacLeary);

​

She staged ‘The Kingdom of the Shades’ from La Bayadere for the American

Ballet Theatre in l974. In 1980 she staged and directed the full-length production for

ABT, the first Western company to acquire this work. Her production included, for the

first time since 1919, a reconstruction of the last act, with Makarova’s choreography after

Marius Petipa, restoring the original dramatic structure and impact of this early

masterpiece. She has staged her production of La Bayadere for 18 companies including

the Royal Ballet, La Scala Ballet, Tokyo Ballet; Australian Ballet; Hamburg Ballet;

Teatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro; Dutch National Ballet; National Ballet of Kiev;

National Ballet of China and most recently for the Norwegian National Ballet. Her other

productions include Giselle for the Royal Swedish Ballet; Sleeping Beauty for the Royal

Ballet; Swan Lake for ENB; Perm Ballet and the National Ballet of China; and Paquita

for ABT, SF Ballet, National Ballet of Canada and the Korean Ballet.

​

Her television work includes the 4-part series ‘Ballerina,’ which she wrote and

presented for the BBC London/WNET. The program received an Emmy Award

Nomination in 1986; ‘Assoluta’ (BBC); ‘Makarova Returns’ (BBC); ‘In a Class of Her

Own’ and ‘Natasha’. She has also been filmed in Swan Lake, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet,

Other Dances and La Bayadere. She made her musical comedy debut on Broadway in On

Your Toes, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1983, Drama Desk

Award, the Stanislavsky Award, Astaire Award and numerous other awards. In 1984 she

starred in the West End London production of On Your Toes, for which she won the

Laurence Olivier Award for best Actress.

​

In February 1989, after 19 years’ absence, she was the first artist to be invited

back to perform in the Soviet Union. She returned to her native Leningrad where she

danced with the Kirov Ballet on the stage where she began her illustrious career. In 1991

she made her debut as a dramatic actress in the Chichester Festival production of

Tovarich, which transferred to the West End in London. She returned to Russia in 1992

 

in the play Two for the Seesaw, giving performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In

1997 she starred in the Chichester Festival production of George Bernard Shaw’s play

Misalliance. She played Elvira in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit at the Palace Theatre in

England.

She received the Dance Magazine Award in 1977 and the Mother of the Year

Award in 1979. Her ‘Dance Autobiography’ was published by Knopf in 1979. She

received the American Library Association Award for her recordings of the stories Snow

Maiden, The Frog Princess & Firebird – Delos Records in 1991 & 92. In 2011, the

Dance Open in St. Petersburg held a Jubilee performance to honor her and in 2012, the

Youth America Grand Prix held a Gala called “Ballerina Assoluta” in honor of Natalia at

Lincoln Center in New York. She received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors

Award in 2012. This award was created “to provide National recognition to individuals

who through their lifetime have made significant contribution to American culture

through the performing arts.” In 2014 in Moscow, she was awarded the “Soul of Dance”

by the Russian Ballet Journal and the Russian Ministry of Culture, which honors her for

preserving the Russian heritage of classical ballet through her productions in the West. In

2018 she received the Benois De La Danse Life Achievement Award and in 2023 the

Petipa Life Achievement Award.

​

               Natalia Makarova continues to stage classical ballets throughout the world, passing on her

knowledge to a new generation of dancers.