Origins & Early Life

Dame Alicia Markova DBE (1 December 1910 – 2 December 2004) was a British 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.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Markova was born in London as Lilian Alicia Marks on 1 December 1910. Her father, Arthur, was Jewish by birth; her mother, Eileen (née Barry), converted to Judaism. She was the eldest of four daughters. The family lived in a two bedroom flat in Finsbury Park at the time of her birth, but settled at 7 Cascade Avenue in Muswell Hill in 1914. Marks began to dance as a young child on medical advice to strengthen her weak limbs.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Her father built a stage in the...

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