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Leonard, Maurice : Markova - The Legend (The Authorised Biography)

Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1995

ISBN 0340640324

8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. A Fine unmarked copy with Fine price clipped dustjacket. xiv + 370 pages. 51 illustrations. Alicia Markova is a dancing legend. Her story is a dream come true, but not one realised without much hardship, dedication and sacrifice - as this first major biography reveals. Born Lilian Alicia Marks in London in 1910, she started her career at the age of ten in Dick Whittington in Kennington. Artistically it was about as far removed fro the worlds great opera houses as you can get. Such was her genius, however, that despite her lack of experience in ballet, she was snapped up aged 14 by the world-famous impresario Serge Diaghileff for his acclaimed Ballet Russe. It was the beginning of an exciting, though often lonely, period. Markova, as she now was, danced all over Europe, introducing new works by Balanchine and Massine. Stravinsky was her music teacher and Matisse her designer. Nurtured and groomed by Diaghileff, she was plunged into despair by his death when she was still 18. With no British ballet company to return to, she earned her living dancing in a cinema between films. Then with the young Frederick Ashton, she introduced a whole new concept of dance in London. Later, when Ninette de Valois started the Vic-Wells Ballet, Alicia became her prima ballerina, nightly filling Sadler's Wells theatre to capacity. Written with Markova's full cooperation, this is the enthralling story of a woman with a mission, whose whole life has been devoted to what she symbolises - the perfection of her art. It is also the story of British Ballet. Before Markova it simply did not exist. L. Book Condition: Fine. Binding: Hard Cover. Jacket: Fine

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