Evgenia Sokolova is a Russian ballerina, a talented teacher and choreographer. Many famous ballerinas called her their teacher. She stopped dancing early, but found herself in teaching.
Childhood, adolescence
Evgenia Sokolova was born in 1850 in St. Petersburg. She grew up in a prosperous family. Her parents were wealthy people. They strove to give their children a good education. Evgenia studied at a prestigious school, received a good education. Since childhood, she dreamed of a stage. In her memoirs, she talked about the impressions she received after attending a ballet performance. Parents were not fans of this art form, but tried to develop their children, attend various events. After the first visit to the ballet, the future celebrity firmly decided to connect her life with the stage.
Evgenia Sokolova entered the ballet department of the St. Petersburg Theater School. In 1869 she successfully graduated from this educational institution. During her studies, she managed to show her abilities and many teachers predicted a great future for her in ballet. She tried dancing on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in St. Petersburg. Eugene amazingly combined beauty, charm, artistry. She mastered the dance technique perfectly. At the same time, she knew how to keep the viewer's attention. When the ballerina appeared on stage, all attention was focused only on her.
Career
In 1870, Sokolova was enrolled in the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. She has performed successfully on stage for many years. The audience fell in love with the talented and charming ballerina. She has her fans.
In the collective of the theater, Eugene was disliked. Most likely, this was due to her success. 5 years after Sokolova's arrival at the Mariinsky Theater, she was offered to take the position of a leading dancer. Sokolova danced many interesting parts on stage, but her participation in ballet performances turned out to be especially striking:
- Corsair (Medora);
- The Little Humpbacked Horse (Tsar Maiden);
- "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Titania).
Since 1886, Sokolova has been teaching. In 1902 she was a teacher and tutor at the Mariinsky Theater. She studied with aspiring talented ballerinas and even gave lessons privately. Sokolova's students were: M. F. Kshesinskaya, A. P. Pavlova, T. P. Karsavina, L. N. Egorova, V. A. Trefilova and many other ballerinas who later became very popular. In 1904, Yevgenia was fired from the Mariinsky Theater. The official reason for the dismissal was the loss of shape and weight gain. Frequent childbirth did not reflect in the best way on the figure of the ballerina. But at that time, Sokolova no longer performed, but only taught. She did not agree with the dismissal from the Mariinsky Theater.
The unofficial reason for this decision of the leadership was the scandalous departure from the theater of Marius Petipa. Following him, his best students, followers of his school, were fired. After leaving the Mariinsky Theater, Sokolova opened a private ballet class. She taught abroad as well. Influential friends helped her open several schools in her name abroad. Yevgenia Pavlovna taught ballerinas who, for some reason, could not enter the state ballet school. Sokolova was an excellent teacher, but private lessons did not give her students serious career prospects. They could not perform on the stages of the best Russian theaters with such an education. Many of Sokolova's students went abroad or performed abroad. Among her pupils was the famous lover of Pablo Picasso Olga Khokhlova. She came to ballet at the age of 14. She was not taken to school because of her age, but her studies with Evgenia Pavlovna led her to success.
In 1918, Sokolova nevertheless returned to the theater and began to work as a teacher and consultant. One of her main tasks was to bring back old traditions in ballet. At that time, the influence of the West was palpable. Dancers and choreographers adopted dance techniques from foreign ballet schools. But then it became clear that it was necessary to revive the traditions of Russian ballet. Evgenia Pavlovna Sokolova personally danced all of Marius Petipa's ballets and was an invaluable bearer of his choreography.
In 1925, Evgenia Sokolova died in St. Petersburg. She was recognized as one of the most talented ballerinas and teachers. The best Russian writers dedicated their books to her and other outstanding dancers of the Russian Empire. The name of Evgenia Sokolova is mentioned in the works:
- Our Ballet (A. Pleshcheev);
- "Notes of a ballerina of the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theater" (E. Vezem);
- "Materials on the history of Russian ballet" (M. Borisoglebsky).
Personal life
In her personal life, Evgenia Sokolova was doing well. Even in her youth, she married a loved one, later became a mother of many children, which was a rarity for the world of ballet.
Evgenia Pavlovna loved her family very much and did not regret having given birth to her children. But in her memoirs, she admitted that this put an end to her career as a ballerina. She stopped dancing on stage too early. Pregnancy and childcare took a lot of her time. Sokolova failed to return to her former form.
Having become a teacher, Evgenia Pavlovna encouraged her students to think carefully about why they need ballet. It seemed to her unfair that young girls spend a huge amount of time and energy in order to learn to dance, and then, finding a family, they have to give up art. She urged those dreaming of love to leave the ballet class and forget about studying with her.
