Anna Pavlova Biography Born: January 31, 1881 St. Petersburg,
Russia Died: January 22, 1931 The Hague, Netherlands Anna
Pavlova was in her time—and is perhaps even now—the most famous
dancer in the world. Pavlova carried on long, globe-covering
tours, creating new ballet audiences everywhere. Anna Pavlova
was born on January 31, 1881, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the
daughter of Lyubov Feodorovna, a washerwoman. Her father's
identity is not known. When Anna was very small, her mother
married reserve soldier Matvey Pavlov, who died when Anna was
two years old. She and her mother were very poor, and they spent
the summers with Anna's grandmother. According to Pavlova, she
wanted to be a dancer from the age of eight, when she attended a
performance of The Sleeping Beauty at the Maryinsky Theatre. Two
years later she was accepted as a student at St. Petersburg's
Imperial Ballet School. This school for classical dancers
offered its students lifelong material protection; the czar (the
ruler of Russia) Alexander III (