Alicia Markova

Dame Alicia Markova DBE
Alicia Markova in 1940
Born	Lilian Alice Marks (1910-12-01)1 December 1910 London, England, UK
Died	2 December 2004(2004-12-02) (aged 94) Bath, Somerset, England, UK
Nationality	British
Occupation	Ballerina
Title	Prima ballerina assoluta

Dame Alicia Markova DBE (1 December 1910 – 2 December 2004) was an English ballerina and a choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her career with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and touring internationally, she was widely considered to be one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of the twentieth century. She was the first British dancer to become the principal dancer of a ballet company and, with Dame Margot Fonteyn, is one of only two English dancers to be recognised as a prima ballerina assoluta. Markova was a founder dancer of the Rambert Dance Company, The Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, and was co-founder and director of the English National Ballet.

Markova was born as Lilian Alicia Marks on 1 December 1910. Her father, Alfred, was Jewish by birth; her mother, Eileen, converted to Judaism. The family lived in a two bedroom flat in Finsbury Park.

Markova began to dance on medical advice to strengthen her weak limbs. She made her stage debut at age ten, performing the role of Salome in the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat, for which she was billed as Little Alicia, the child Pavlova. She began studying ballet with Princess Serafina Astafieva, a Russian ballerina living in London. Astafieva was a retired dancer of the Ballets Russes, a renowned ballet company founded by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Astafieva established the Russian Dancing Academy at The Pheasantry, King's Road, Chelsea, and was responsible for teaching a number of notable British dancers including Margot Fonteyn and Anton Dolin. A blue plaque now marks the site of her former studio.