Natalia Makarova - Biography

Biography

Makarova was born in 1940 in Leningrad in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the USSR. At the age of 12, she auditioned for the Leningrad Choreographic School (formerly the Imperial Ballet School), and was accepted although most students join the school at the age of 10.

Makarova was a permanent member of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad from 1956 to 1970, achieving prima ballerina status during the 1960s. Soon after defecting to the West in 1970, Makarova began performing with the American Ballet Theatre in New York and the Royal Ballet in London.

When she first arrived in the West, Makarova was eager to expand her choreography by dancing ballets by modern choreographers. At the same time, she remained most identified with classical roles such as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and Giselle. She was featured in the 1976 live American Ballet Theatre production of Swan Lake, simulcast from Lincoln Center on both PBS and NPR.

Makarova continued to excel in many different roles, most notably, her title role in Giselle. She was slim and slight, and combined a delicacy and lyricism with impeccable classical training. She danced with the likes of such fellow Russian ballet idols at Mikhail Baryshnikov, Alexander Godunov and Rudolph Nureyev.

In 1989, Natalia Makarova returned to her home theater of the Kirov Ballet and was reunited with her family and with former colleagues and teachers. Her emotional homecoming was documented in the film Makarova Returns. After her performance at the Kirov, she retired from dancing, donating her shoes and costumes to the Kirov Museum. Today Makarova stages ballets such as Swan Lake, La Bayadère, and Sleeping Beauty for companies across the world. She retired from dancing due to accumulating injuries, especially to her knees.

In addition to being an internationally renowned ballerina, Makarova won a Tony Award for her performance in the show On Your Toes. She appeared as Lydia Lopokova (Lady Keynes) in Wooing in Absence, compiled by Patrick Garland. It was first performed at Charleston Farmhouse and then at the Tate Britain.