Interview by Wendy Perron, Dance Magazine
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| Natalia Markova rehearsing La Bayadere with ABT in 1980. Photo by Dina Makaroff |
"One of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century, Natalia Makarova defected from the Soviet Union in 1970. Known for her passionate dancing and poignant sense of surrender, she could also be strong and sexy onstage. She danced with American Ballet Theatre from 1970 to 1988 and guested with The Royal Ballet and many other companies the world over. She performed leading roles in the classics, winning particular praise for her Odette/Odile and Giselle. She also performed ballets by Ashton, MacMillan, Béjart, and Petit, and Jerome Robbins created Other Dances (1976) for her and Baryshnikov. In 1983 she branched out into musical theater and won a Tony for her role in On Your Toes.
When she staged the Shades scene of La Bayadère on ABT in 1974, it was dubbed “Makarova’s miracle” by Arlene Croce of The New Yorker. In 1980 she set the full ballet on the company, thus expanding our knowledge of the great Petipa story ballets. Since then she has set it on 13 other companies.
In celebration of the 40th anniversary since her defection and the 30th anniversary of her Bayadère, we compiled a photo collage of “Natasha’s” ballet career, accompanied by Wendy Perron’s interview with her."
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