Natalia Makarova

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Natalia Makarova’s Contributions to Dance
Natalia Makarova is a Russian classical dancer who had mastery in ballet dance. It is believed that her dance performances set the standards of aristocracy and artistry of dance, which made her the most exceptional ballerina dancer during her generation in the west (Baer 26). Despite being small in size, she is described as a dancer who danced spaciously with her proportions forming slim and stretched lines. She achieved a prima ballerina status between 1956 and 1970 when she was still a permanent member of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. She later performed with the Royal ballet group in London and the American Ballet Theatre in New York. She was determined to develop her choreography by engaging with other contemporary choreographers in the west (Baer 66). However, she remained popular with her classical roles such as the Odile/Odette in Giselle and Swan Lake. She performed some of her dances with famed artists such as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov (Tchernichova and Lobenthal 71).
During her career, she received several awards including the Tony award for the Best Actress in a Musical on Your Toes and the Lawrence Oliver Award (Tchernichova and Lobenthal 119). She also appeared as a guest artist with many ballet companies around the world such as the Paris Opera Ballet, Munich Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Ballet de Santiago, London festival ballet, and the National Ballet of Canada. She became the first artist to be invited back to perform in Russia after being in exile for 19years (Baer 147).

She performed her last dance with the Kirov Ballet and donated her pointe shoes and her costume from Onegin to the Leningrad Ballet museum. However, she continued to stage classical ballets around the world and passing her ballet knowledge to the young ballet dancers across the globe.

Work Cited
Baer, Barbara L. The ballet lover. United States: Open Books, 2017. Print.
Tchernichova, Elena, and Joel Lobenthal. Dancing on Water: A Life in Ballet, from the Kirov to the Abt. Boston: North-eastern University Press, 2013. Internet resource.