Sonia Arova ( bg, Соня Арова) (20 June 1927 – 4 February 2001), was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

Biography

Early life

Sonia Arova was born as Sophie Errio on 20 June 1927 in

Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. She grew up in Sofia, she went to a ballet school, where she showed potential that the teachers she had advised her mother to take her to further her training. She began her training in Paris with Olga Preobrajenska. On holiday in Brittany in June 1940 with her best friend, June Ratcliffe, the young girls, Sophie, June and her sister Cecilia, were taken by train to Dax to escape the approaching Germans, by June's mother Andrée Ratcliffe. They eventually caught a ship to Plymouth from Bayonne; reputedly the last ship to leave, after Andrée Ratcliffe, with three children on her passport (her son was at school in England) refused to leave Sophie, as she was then called, alone on the dockside. She never saw her father again. She was reunited with her mother and sister eight years later. In England, the Ratcliffe family paid for her education at the Arts Educational Trust and she eventually joined the International Ballet in 1942.

Career

She worked as a principal ballerina in the Original

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

, the

London Festival Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottis ...

, the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

, the

National Ballet of Washington, D.C. The National Ballet of Washington, D.C. was an American national ballet company founded in 1962 by Jean Riddell, granddaughter of the founder of PET Evaporated Milk and artistic director Frederic Franklin, with financial support from the Ford Foun ...

,Sonia Arova, 74, A Ballerina Who Danced with Nureyev, New York Times, February 15, 2001
/ref> and the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

. She danced with

Rudolph Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...

in their American debut with Ruth Page's Chicago Opera Ballet troupe in New York City (1962).''Rudolf Nureyev, Charismatic Dance Who Gave Fire to Ballet's Image, Dies at 54'' by Jack Anderson, The New York Times - Arts Section, 7 January 1993 -on www.nytimes.com
/ref> She was a great success, with kings and queens presenting her presents in appreciation of her work. She became

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of the National Ballet of Norway in 1966 and remained in the position until 1970. Sonia Arova - Biography on www.soniaarova.com
/ref> In 1971, she co-directed the San Diego Ballet with her husband Thor Sutowski. The couple accepted teaching posts at the

Alabama School of Fine Arts The Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) is a public, tuition-free partially boarding state middle and high school located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It provides an intensive specialty-focused education in the arts, math, and sci ...

in 1976. During their stay, she was artistic director of the Alabama Ballet. In 1996, the pair returned to

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, where her daughter, Ariane, lived. In a ceremony at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, she was made a Dame by King

Olaf V Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991. Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the No ...

of Norway, becoming the second woman so distinguished.

Death

She died from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

in 2001, aged seventy-three.

References

External links

Obituary
*
Sonia Arova collection
Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts {{DEFAULTSORT:Arova, Sonia Prima ballerinas 1927 births 2001 deaths Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in California Place of death missing Musicians from Sofia Bulgarian emigrants to the United States National Ballet of Washington, D.C., dancers 20th-century American dancers Bulgarian ballet dancers