Olga Sapphire

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Olga Sapphire
Midori Shimizu
Photograph of a ballerina in a short tutu and feathered headdress, standing en pointe on her right leg with her left arm and left leg extended at 45-degree angles from the vertical line of her right leg and torso.
Saphhire performing in The Dying Swan, 1937
Born
Olga Ivanova Pavlova

(1907-06-28)28 June 1907
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died20 June 1981(1981-06-20) (aged 73)
Tokyo, Japan
NationalityRussian
Japanese
Other namesMidori Aoyama, Origa Shimizu
Occupation(s)ballerina, choreographer, dance instructor
Years active1928–1980
Known forIntroducing the pedagogy of classical Russian dance to Japan

Olga Sapphire (Russian: Ольга Сафайя or Russian: Ольга Сапфир, Japanese: オリガ・サファイア, 28 June 1907 – 20 June 1981) was the stage name of Russian and Japanese ballerina and choreographer Olga Ivanovna Pavlova (Russian: Ольга Ивановна Павлова), whose married name was Midori Shimizu (Japanese: 清水みどり). She was classically trained at both the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute and the Moscow Choreographic School. She performed in Russia until her marriage in the early 1930s to a Japanese diplomat, Takehisa Shimizu. After agreeing to move to Japan in 1936, she developed classical ballet there, bringing with her theoretical and pedagogical materials to underpin her dance lessons and establish the field.

From 1936 until her retirement in 1957, Sapphire was employed by the Nihon Gekijō variety theater, in

prima ballerina
, choreographer and ballet instructor. She performed classic Russian ballets, managing all aspects of the productions, as well as choreographing Japanese dances for stage and film. She retired from the stage in 1953, but continued to be involved in ballet production until 1957. In her later years, Sapphire wrote three books about ballet, which remain influential in Japan.

Early life and training

Pavlova was born on 28 June 1907 in

1905 Russian Revolution had begun two years beforehand. World War I would follow when she was seven years old, and the 1917 Russian Revolution began when she was 10.[2][3] Pavlova later wrote that her childhood was at a time of cold and hunger.[3]

From an early age, Pavlova was highly interested in ballet, but given her family's circumstances, life as an artist was improbable. When World War I broke out, her mother began working in the store of the

character dancing. Students received four years of lectures before taking their final examinations.[4] Pavlova studied under Apollinaria Gordova and was classmates with Igor Shvetsov.[1] In 1922, when the authorities closed the Miklos school,[5] she transferred to a school operated by Akim Volynsky and studied theory, taking evening dance courses at the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute.[1] The Stalinist period was difficult as classical ballets were being replaced with ideological themes and ballet masters were relocating to the west.[3] At her 1928 graduation, Pavlova performed as a soloist in fragments choreographed by Marius Petipa from La vestale by Gaspare Spontini.[1]

Career

In Russia (1928–1935)

Pavlova danced with

Leningrad where she lived with her husband, the choreographer of the Khabarovsk Regional Musical Comedy Theater, Leonid Romanovich Leonidov. Theirs was an artistic union, and that year he staged The Red Poppy. The marriage failed[8] and Pavlova then married the Japanese diplomat, Takehisa Shimizu, taking the name Midori Shimizu.[9][10] On 13 December 1934, Pavlova moved to Moscow, where she lived at 42 Herzen Street, the location of the Japanese Embassy.[8]

In Moscow, Pavlova began studying with

Mikhail Fokine, the role of Nikiya from La Bayadère by Marius Petipa and Ludwig Minkus, the part of Anitra from Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg and excerpts from Don Quixote to music by Minkus. Her mixed marriage caused difficulties and the fear of reprisal, as it was typical for people in this period to be accused of spying.[Notes 1][8] As Shimizu was a diplomat specializing in Russia, he may have had some warning that the Great Purge was coming.[10] The couple began planning for a move to Japan and Pavlova gathered dance-related books, music, and costumes. She spoke with the Japanese ambassador, who set up a meeting in Moscow with the industrialist Ichizō Kobayashi. He had opened a film theater, which would be suitable to stage ballet, in Tokyo with capacity for audiences of up to 3,000 spectators.[10][14] He asked her to go to Japan to establish ballet there.[15]

In Japan (1936–1980)

Group photograph of a woman dressed in a long sheath-style dress topped with a jacket, surrounded by eleven costumed Japanese theatrical performers.
Sapphire and the Japanese theater dance group, 1936

On 27 December 1935 Pavlova received her Japanese passport; the following April, together with Shimizu, she moved to Tokyo.[8] Pavlova worked with Toyokichi Hata [ja], director of Kobayashi's theater to prepare for the first production of Dance of the Little Swans from Swan Lake. The audience did not understand the production, which was perceived as a foreign jazz dance. Only when Hata traveled abroad two years later and saw a performance of Swan Lake in New York City, was he able to appreciate the performance Pavlova had choreographed.[16][17] She recognized that if she wanted to teach or dance, she would have to become the producer and handle all aspects of the performance, including choreography, costumes, dance training, lighting, music selection and staging, while learning about the language and culture of Japan.[16] She served as the ballet instructor for the Nichigeki Dancing Team [ja],[18] and was employed by the Nippon Gekijo Theatre, a variety theater.[19]

Her premiere as Midori Aoyama in Japan was at the

prima ballerina, as well as choreographer and teacher. Besides classical Russian ballet, Sapphire choreographed Japanese dances. In 1938, she created and directed Impressions of the Orient (Japanese: Tōyō no inshō), a two-act production. She continued to dance classical ballet regularly at the Nehon Gekijō throughout the Pacific War,[25] though almost all other theatrical performances had been suspended.[24] In 1942, she performed the lead role in Scheherazade to a sold out house at the Takarazuka Theater and in 1943, she performed in the Burmese Peacock.[25]

Photograph of a ballerina standing en pointe on her left foot with her right leg and torso extended perpendicular to the left leg. She is wearing a long tutu adorned with raised roses, which has a tight bodice with puffed sleeves, and a crown of flowers atop her head.
Sapphire in Giselle, 1936

In addition to working on stage, Sapphire became involved in creating dance scenes in film. Her choreography featured in Masahiro Makino's 1943 remake of Orphans of the Storm, Ahen senso (Opium War). After the war, Kobayashi and Hata faced reprisals for their war activities, and Sapphire lost her primary backers.[26][27] She left the Takarazuka Theater but continued to dance in stage productions, such as her version of Carmen using a musical arrangement by Shiro Matsumoto, a shortened version of Swan Lake, and scenes from The Nutcracker.[26] In 1950, she published a book バレエ読本 (Ballet Reader), which was referred to in Nobel Prize-winning author Yasunari Kawabata's 1951 book, 舞姫 (Dancing Girl [ja]), which evaluates the impact of cultural exchange.[26][28] Her last performance was in 1953, though she continued working to promote Japanese ballet until 1957.[26] In 1960, Sapphire accompanied her husband to a diplomatic post in Poland for three years, before returning to Japan.[29]

Death and legacy

Sapphire died in Tokyo on 20 June 1981.[29] She published three books that were influential on the growth of ballet in Japan,[9] documenting the methods she applied as well as the struggles she faced in introducing ballet in a sufficiently cultural and sensitive way for it to be understood.[16] Among her students were Akemi Matsuo [ja], Junko Matsuyama, and Momoko Tani [ja].[9] Her last student, Toshiko Sato published a book about Saphhire's life in 1987 and hosted annual events in her honor for many years.[29] In 2001 and again in 2016, Chacott, an international firm selling ballet equipment, hosted an exhibit of artifacts belonging to Sapphire.[10] These included a complete collection of Leo Tolstoy's works and other literary books, a collection of materials related to dance history and pedagogy, and sheet music, which after 1936 could not be exported.[30]

Selected works

  • Sapphire, Olga; サファイア, オリガ (1950). Bare dokuhon (バレエ読本) [Ballet Reader] (in Japanese). Translated by Shimizu, Takehisa; 清水, 威久. Tokyo: Sanno shobo (山王書房).
    ISBN 978-4-7603-0137-9
  • Sapphire, Olga; サファイア, オリガ (1953). Bare wo kokorozasu Wakai Hirota hi e (バレエを志す若い人たちへ) [For Young People Aspiring to Ballet] (in Japanese). Translated by Shimizu, Takehisa; 清水, 威久. Kawade Shobo (河出書房).
    ISBN 978-4-7603-0138-6
  • Sapphire, Olga; サファイア, オリガ (1982). Watashi no bare henreki (わたしのバレエ遍歴) [Ballet: My Life] (in Japanese). Translated by Shimizu, Takehisa; 清水, 威久. Tokyo: Kasumigaseki shuppan (霞ケ関出版).
    OCLC 33520162
    .

See also

Notes

  1. ^ In 1938, both her father, Gustav Yanovich Grudberg, and Baron Yuri Nikolaevich Miklos, who operated her first dance school, were executed by the Soviet authorities.[12][13]
  2. ^ The first Russian woman to teach social dancing and open a ballet school in Japan was Eliana Pavlova, who arrived in the country in 1919.[21] She had not been classically trained,[22] nor was she "fully qualified [as a] ballet instructor".[23] Her area of focus was producing ballet for the stage and popularizing it, rather teaching the theory and tradition behind Russian classical ballet.[22]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f Кадзи & Шелаева 2019, p. 253.
  2. ^ Ascher 1994, p. 93.
  3. ^ a b c Sato 1996a, p. 22.
  4. ^ Петухова 1995, pp. 2–3.
  5. ^ Петухова 1995, p. 3.
  6. ^ Кадзи & Шелаева 2019, p. 254.
  7. ^ Кадзи & Шелаева 2019, pp. 254–255.
  8. ^ a b c d e Кадзи & Шелаева 2019, p. 256.
  9. ^ a b c Japan Ballet Association 2016.
  10. ^ a b c d 関口 2009d.
  11. ^ Марков 1997.
  12. ^ Разумов 2007, p. Г.
  13. ^ Разумов 2012, p. М.
  14. ^ Кадзи & Шелаева 2019, p. 257.
  15. ^ 関口 2016.
  16. ^ a b c 関口 2009e.
  17. ^ Кадзи & Шелаева 2019, p. 258.
  18. ^ Ballet Today 1970, p. 18.
  19. ^ Monden 2014, p. 258.
  20. ^ Кадзи & Шелаева 2019, pp. 258–259.
  21. ^ 関口 2009b.
  22. ^ a b 関口 2009k.
  23. ^ Kenji 1998, p. 588.
  24. ^ a b Kenji 1998, p. 589.
  25. ^ a b Koshiro 2013, p. 74.
  26. ^ a b c d Кадзи & Шелаева 2019, p. 260.
  27. ^ Itsuō Museum 2009.
  28. ^ Sato 1996b, p. 56.
  29. ^ a b c 日外アソシエーツ 2004.
  30. ^ 関口 2009g.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Olga_Sapphire&oldid=1155377194"