Sutton's kinetic, meticulously choreographed biography reveals the forces of light and gravity that shaped the fiercely independent dancer's soaring forty-year career—and the delicate yet indelible mark she left on the dance world and beyond.
This admiring biography of Lilian Alicia Marks, known professionally as Alicia Markova, is just as hardworking as its namesake—but not nearly as elegant. Journalist Sutton lumbers through the story of Markova’s stunning dancing career, beginning with Markova in utero, her mother attending Anna Pavlova’s 1910 debut performance in London. As a girl in England, the flat-footed, knock-kneed, and weak-legged Markova enrolled in ballet lessons and surprised everyone with her astonishing talent and ability to overcome physical shortcomings. So impressive was the young dancer that Sergei Diaghilev hired her for his Ballets Russe just after she turned 14. When Diaghilev died, Markova returned to London and helped transform England into an important ballet destination. She performed the lead in Giselle (often touted as the most demanding role in ballet), became one of only 11 dancers to be recognized as a prima ballerina assoluta, and went on to start her own dance company with Anton Dolin. Markova’s popularity continued unabated until she retired from dancing in 1963. It was a stellar career, but under Sutton’s direction, it falls flat. The author fails to distinguish between the interesting and the trivial, and she grossly overuses block quotations from many sources, nearly eclipsing the star of the show. 32 pages of b&w photos. Agent: Laura Gross, Laura Gross Literary Agency. (Aug.)
... after a childhood plagued by flat feet, knock knees and wobbly legs, a doctor told her mother to try ballet lessons and low and behold she was discovered to be the most amazing dance protegee... she started her professional career at age ten and never stopped.... Considered the greatest ambassador of ballet!
The pas de deux would seem the most unlikely topic to yield a page-turner, but Sutton has done it with her fascinating portrait of Alicia Markova. Sutton’s poignant, playful Markova shatters the stereotype of the pampered aesthete and deftly places her at the center of an era of breathtaking artistic ferment.
The Making of Markova is both a surprisingly intimate portrait of one of Britain’s and ballet’s truly great souls and a sweeping depiction of the kinetic, star-studded world of international ballet in the first half of the twentieth century. Tina Sutton’s lucid, deft and limber style admirably suits her subject.
Sutton’s sense of wonderment lights up every page of this utterly transporting story of discipline, commitment, hardship, and steely self- reliance. Sutton brings Markova and her world to scintillating life in this ravishing biography of perpetual motion, limelight and darkness, courage and creativity.
Chock-full of colorful, telling details, fascinating insights, and charming anecdotes that it makes for a thoroughly engaging read. Sutton’s book is a captivating portrait of a remarkable life to savor slowly.
Sutton's kinetic, meticulously choreographed biography draws upon a vast archive of letters and diaries to reveal the forces of light and gravity that shaped the fiercely independent dancer's soaring 40-year career—and the delicate yet indelible mark she left on the dance world and beyond.
Her history as a dancer is absolutely unique. Diaghilev was crazy about her.
Markova has danced Giselle so many times that she could undoubtedly do it in her sleep; what is so notable is that she never does. She is as fresh, as sensitive, as creatively alert as if she had never done it before.
She seemed to float and fly, as if the air was her natural element.
Sutton's lively biography makes use of Markova's personal papers, which she quotes at great length, and the book traces a remarkable career, and captures the spirit of relentless hard work.
★ 10/01/2013
Alicia Markova (née Lilian Alicia Marks, 1910–2004) was England's first homegrown ballerina. Her career began when, as a young teen, she was asked to join the Ballets Russes. Markova danced professionally for half her life and was universally considered the greatest ballerina of her generation. Several biographies about her have been written throughout the 20th century, but journalist Sutton (Color Harmony Compendium: A Complete Color Reference for Designers of All Types) is the first to have had access to her archive of extraordinary materials, housed at Boston University's Gotlieb Center. Although Sutton's prose can be occasionally repetitive and less than elegant, she maintains a genuine fascination with all aspects of Markova's life. Told chronologically, with a judicious blend of diary excerpts, letters, interviews, newspaper clippings, and straightforward narrative, this book is a compellingly readable history of Markova, her family—both biological and balletic—and her world of arts and culture. VERDICT Though several excellent ballet biographies and histories have been written over the past few years (including Sjeng Scheijen's Diaghilev: A Life and Jennifer Homans's Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet), this work stands out for its inclusiveness. As Sutton states, "Markova believed firmly in ballet for everyone, not just the elite." That belief is a theme in this work, which will be appreciated by anyone who enjoys informative, entertaining biographies or mid-20th-century performing arts and culture.—Martha Stone, Treadwell Lib., Boston
