Anna's Life
Anna was born prematurely and thus developed illness after illness during her childhood. Miraculously, she became strong enough when she was older; strong enough to do countless ballet performances for weeks on end. Her mother, Lyubov Feodorovna was a laundress (washerwoman), and her father is unknown. However, she had a stepfather, Matvey Pavlov, who was a reserve soldier. She went to see The Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theatre with her mother when she was eight and was fascinated with ballet thereafter. Her mother was very supportive of her and sent her to the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School, directed by Marius Petipa, two years afterwards. In later years, she married her manager, Victor Dandré. Sadly, she died in 1931 after contracting double pneumonia.