The Real White Swan

Today is Anna Pavlova's birthday.  She was a Russian ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the finest classical ballet dancers in history and was most noted as a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev. Pavlova is most recognised for the creation of the role The Dying Swan and, with her own company, would become the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world.

In January 1931, Pavlova was told that she had pneumonia and needed an operation. She was also told that she would never be able to dance again. She refused to have the operation saying "If I can't dance then I'd rather be dead." Three weeks later she died of pleurisy, about three weeks short of her 50th birthday. She was holding her costume from The Dying Swan when she spoke her last words, "Play the last measure very softly." She died on 23 January 1931 in the Hotel Des Indes in The Hague.

In accordance with old ballet tradition, on the day she was to have next performed, the show went on as scheduled, with a single spotlight circling an empty stage where she would have been.

Of course, the Dying Swan has now become infamous in Darren Aronofsky's over rated "Black Swan" starring Natalie Portman. Here's the real thing: