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Markova, (Dame) Alicia (orig. Lillian Alicia Marks;b London, 1 Dec. 1910, d 2 Dec. 2004). British dancer, teacher, and ballet director. The first British prima ballerina and a key figure in the development of British dance. She studied with Astafieva (from 1921), Legat, Cecchetti, and Celli and as a child was nicknamed the ‘Miniature Pavlova’. At the age of only 14 she was recruited by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and danced with his company from 1925 to 1929, immediately being cast as a soloist because she was too small to join the corps de ballet. She created the title role in Balanchine's Le Chant du rossignol in 1925. When Diaghilev died she returned to London and had the good fortune to find herself at the centre of British ballet's formative years. She became the ballerina of the Camargo Society in 1931; danced with Ballet Rambert (1931-5) and the Vic-Wells Ballet (1932-5), years during which Ashton, Tudor, and de Valois all took advantage of her strong classical technique and unparalleled experience. She created roles in many of Ashton's early ballets, including La Péri (1931), Façade (1931), Foyer de danse (1932), Les Rendezvous (1933), and Mephisto Waltz (1934). For Tudor she created a role in Lysistrata (1932) and for de Valois roles in The Wise and Foolish Virgins (1933), Bar aux Folies-Bergère (1934), The Haunted Ballroom (1934), and The Rake's Progress (1935). She was the first British Giselle and also the first to dance Odette-Odile. In 1935 she formed the Markova-Dolin company with Anton Dolin (a colleague from her Diaghilev days), a travelling troupe which provided a vehicle for its two stars. Markova continued as its prima ballerina until 1938. She then went abroad, finding greater opportunities for a star of her standing in Europe and America. For the next three years she was ballerina of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo where she created roles in Massine's Seventh Symphony (1938), Capriccio espagnol (1939), Rouge et noir (1939), and Vienna 1814 (1940); and in Balanchine's Jeu de cartes (1940). From 1941 to 1945 she danced with American Ballet Theatre where in addition to performing the traditional ballerina roles she also created parts in Massine's Aleko (1942) and Tudor's Romeo and Juliet (1943, Juliet). In 1945 she reformed the Markova-Dolin company in the US which toured widely. In 1949 she and Dolin did a series of gala performances of ballet in Britain, out of which grew London Festival Ballet (later English National Ballet). She continued as prima ballerina until 1952. She guested with companies all over the world. She was most admired for her lightness and ethereality as a dancer and of her many roles she was most closely associated with Giselle—many considered her reading of it to be definitive. She retired from the stage in 1962 and from 1963 to 1969 was ballet director of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. In later years she was a coach and teacher, as well as a stager of ballets. Author of Giselle and I (London, 1960) and Markova Remembers (London, 1986). Dame of the Order of the British Empire 1963.

(märkō'vä) , 1910–2004, English ballerina. Her original name was Lilian Alicia Marks. Markova joined Diaghilev's Ballet Russe in 1924 and, in 1931, the Vic-Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet), becoming its first prima ballerina in 1933. In 1935 she formed a company with Anton Dolin. After appearing (1938–41) with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo she danced with Ballet Theatre (1941–44) and other American ballet companies. She worked again with Dolin from 1949 to 1952 in their Festival Ballet company. She was named Dame of the British Empire in 1963, the year she retired from dancing. Markova was noted for her purity of line, precise style, and ethereal grace. She excelled in all the classic roles, and her interpretations of Giselle (her signature role), Pas de Quatre, Petrouchka, Swan Lake, and Romeo and Juliet were exceptionally celebrated. She wrote Giselle and I (1960). After her retirement, she directed the Metropolitan Opera Ballet for six years, taught, and coached, particularly at the Royal Ballet.

British ballerina known especially for her performance in Léonide Massine's Giselle.

Quotes:

"Glorious bouquets and storms of applause are the trimmings which every artist naturally enjoys. But to move an audience in such a role, to hear in the applause that unmistakable note which breaks through good theatre manners and comes from the heart, is to feel that you have won through to life itself. Such pleasure does not vanish with the fall of the curtain, but becomes part of one's own life."

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