After graduating from the Imperial Ballet School, Alexandra Danilova’a first role in the Marysinsky Ballet was in Petipa’s Coppélia. She danced the Prayer Variation. She wrote in her book, “I think I was given it not only because of my dancing abilities but also because I had long, chestnut brown hair—Prayer dances with her hair down.” [1] Later, Danilova danced the role of Swanhilda with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the Festival Ballet for many years.
“Last night saw Alexandra Danilova in the central role of ‘Coppelia’ for the first time this season with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera House, and that is always good fun. Miss Danilova romps helter-skelter through the plot of the old work, treating mime and dramatic development as the merest minutiae, but there is the characteristic Danilova dash about it all and nobody is likely to be very unhappy about it. The largest audience of the week gave her a real ovation at the final curtain.”
—John Martin, New York Times, 1950
Alexandra Danilova & Igor Youskevitch. Library of Congress
Patricia McBride: “Years ago, I told Mr. B I was going to do Coppélia in a concert with Eddie Villella. He seemed so excited, and said immediately, ‘Oh, ask Mme. Danilova to show you. She was such an incredible Swanilda. She remembers all the steps. She was marvelous.’
Danilova on the pantomime: “We sped it up. Everything is so fast today, especially in New York, If you put on one of those old ballets unchanged, everyone would fall asleep. Instead of always explaining your next move, you just move.“
McBride: “It’s an honor to do the role, the experience of being in the same room with Balanchine and Danilova. It’s very special to dance. And it’s a wonderful role for a ballerina—the whole ballet is built around her. It’s such a juicy challenge, to completely lose yourself, completely lose your identity, who you are. In a way you become something other. And you know, compared to dancing Baller Imperial, it’s a snap.”
(top left) Danilova & McBride
(top right) Mr. B, McBride, Danilova
(bottom left) Lincoln Kirstein, Mr. B, Rosemary Dunleavy
(bottom right) McBride & Danilova
Photos by Martha Swope, 1974.
New York Public Library
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