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

The outstanding ballerina Natalya Makarova, whose biography has grown with various legends, has left a noticeable mark in world 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 was born Natalia Makarova, a ballerina, whose family had nothing to do with dance. Moreover, her mother negatively related to the profession of a ballet actress, she seemed to her frivolous and unreliable. She dreamed of seeing her daughter as a doctor or engineer. The girl’s father, an architect, died in the war, and the mother, raising her daughter alone, wanted to give the child a good start in life. Natalya studied well at school, and she had every chance to get a stable profession. But the girl at the same time possessed amazing natural data: flexibility, hearing, plastic. Since childhood, she has been engaged in gymnastics, and the trainers were surprised at her abilities, they said about Natalya that she seemed to have no bones, and was advised to do dancing. Moreover, Natalya really liked ballet, as a child, she reviewed the entire repertoire of the Opera and Ballet Theater. S. Kirov.

Study

Young Makarova Natalia, a ballerina from God, went to the choreographic studio of the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers, where she immediately stood out from the total mass of students. Her astounding data did not go unnoticed, and the teachers recommended that she go to the preliminaries to the Vaganova ballet school. This year, an experimental class was recruited at the choreographic school, in which children from 12-13 years old were admitted, in contrast to the usual admission from 9 years old. Thus, Makarova had to go through a program designed for 9 years, for only 6. But she successfully coped with this task. Her teacher was Elena Vasilievna Shiripina - a student of A. Vaganova and a loyal keeper of her methodology for preparing 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 portended the significant success of the ballerina. Already at school, she mastered the classical repertoire, in particular, danced the adagio in Swan Lake. There she happened to work with the great choreographer, who was forbidden to work in the USSR, Kasyan Goleizovsky, and find a like-minded partner - Nikita Dolgushin.

Career of the Soviet ballerina

Immediately after graduating from the Makarov School, Natalia is a ballerina of one of the best theaters in the world, she was enrolled in the troupe of the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater, and four years later she was the prima of this theater. At first she works in the corps de ballet, but thanks to high-class technology, she quickly moves to the first positions. At this time, the main productions in the theater were carried out by K. Sergeyev, he was an excellent dancer at one time, but as a director he was very mediocre. He could not use the full romantic potential of Natalya Makarova, she hardly mastered the role of Odetta-Odile in Swan Lake.

A great success for her was a meeting with non-conformist choreographer Leonid Yakobson, who noticed a young dancer and invited her to the play “Choreographic Miniatures”. He was able to discern the character of the ballerina, her talent for dramatic and lyrical roles, and this allowed her to gradually get her stellar repertoire. For 11 years of work at the Makarov Theater, Natalia, an extra-class dancer, danced the entire classical repertoire: Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Chopeniana, Bakhchisarai Fountain, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella ". She was also lucky to play the parts in L. Jacobson's innovative productions of “Bedbug”, “Short Stories of Love” and “Wonderland”. She also has to participate in the performances of K. Sergeyev: “The Distant Planet”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Swan Lake”.

At the end of the 60s, Natalya Makarova, the No. 1 ballet dancer of the Kirov Theater, was injured, and doctors recommend that she stop her career. But she showed considerable courage and willpower and returned to the scene.

By 1970, Makarova became the undisputed prima facie of the Kirov Theater, she toured the country a lot, she was reluctant to go abroad. At that time, the theater had a difficult atmosphere: envy, competition, dominance of ideology, pressure from party leaders on dancers and directors, lack of freedom - all this did not allow the ballet star to develop. A large number of bright and interesting performances were not missed by 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 monitored by representatives of the special services, they tried so that the artists did not intersect with the apostates who remained abroad. So, Makarova was carefully guarded from meeting with Rudolf Nuriev, who had fled abroad.

Makarova was looking for self-realization, she did not want to go on beaten paths, she rebelled against the academic theater system, 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 internal motivation of her future unexpected act.

Leap into the unknown

In 1970, on a tour of the Kirov Theater in London, Natalia made an unexpected decision - she seeks political asylum in the UK and cuts off her path 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 withstand everything and after a short period of time she found a way to provide material support to relatives.

Dancer career in the West

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

In addition, she was realized as a dramatic actress, playing in the play “Pointe” on Broadway and receiving several prestigious awards for this role, as well as in the play “Comrade” by J. Duval and the production of “Two on a Swing” by R. Viktyuk. 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 performance on the stage of her native theater, and since then she regularly collaborates with Russian ballet.

Choreographer: Natalia Makarova

In 1974, Natalia Makarova made her debut as a choreographer, she staged scenes from the La Bayadere at the American Ballet Theater. Subsequently, leaving the career of a dancer, Natalya Makarova focused on the work of the director, and until today she has successfully staged performances around the world. Her most outstanding works were the productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Giselle, Paquita.

The best performances

Natalia Makarova’s repertoire has a huge number of outstanding productions; this is almost the entire classical repertoire in various editions: Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Firebird, Nutcracker, Cinderella ". And also a huge number of modern productions: “Onegin” by D. Cranko, “Phenomena” and “A Month in the Village” by F. Ashton, “Carmen” and “Proust, or Heart Failures” by R. Petit, “Epilogue” by D. Normayer and others .

Great partners

Natalya Makarova was lucky with partners, back in the Kirov Theater she dances with many stars: N. Dolgushin, K. Sergeyev, M. Baryshnikov. And after moving to the West, many of the greatest dancers stood up with her. She performs her first part in the west with Rudolf Nuriev. It is with her that Mikhail Baryshnikov and Alexander Godunov dance after leaving the USSR. Also among her partners were such stars as Ivan Nachev, Anthony Dowell, Eric Brun, Derek Dean, John Prince.

Personal life

Dancers often sacrifice family life and personal happiness for the sake of a career, but there are also lucky ones who are able to combine everything, one of which is Natalya Makarova. The ballerina, whose personal life was quite successful, was twice married. The first marriage with the director Leonid Kvinikhidze broke up, and with her second husband, an American entrepreneur, millionaire Edward Karkar, she still lives. The dancer in 1978 gave birth to a son, Andrei, and was able to quickly return to her ballet form, saying that after the appearance of the child, she opened a “second creative breath”. Ballerina Natalya Makarova and her house were seen by many outstanding people, she was friends with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, talked with all the outstanding choreographers and dancers of our time. She received an award from the hands of US President Barack Obama for his contribution to the development of American culture.