Alicia Markova Quotes

Dame Alicia Markova, DBE, was an English 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 20th century. She 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. Astafieva established the Russian Dancing Academy at The Pheasantry on King's Road in Chelsea and was responsible for teaching a number of notable British dancers including Marie Rambert, Margot Fonteyn and Anton Dolin. A blue plaque now marks the site of her former studio. Some time after suffering a stroke, Dame Alicia died on 2 December 2004 in a hospital in Bath, Somerset, one day after her 94th birthday. A funeral service was held at Bath's Haycombe Crematorium.