Victor Dandré


Victor E. Dandré or D'André was a Russian born ballet impresario and the partner of the world renowned ballerina, Anna Pavlova.

Life

It is said he was born in Russia in 1870 but his name is specifically French.
Little is known of his early life, and all is obscured in that "Victor Dandre" appears to be a stage/impresario name. If he was Russian his surname was possibly Ivanovich, as some sources state his father's name as Ivan Ivanovich.
He is generally described as a French-Russian aristocrat, who spent his earlier life mainly in Paris and St Petersburg.
He met Anna Pavlova in Paris in 1904 and almost instantly became her manager. They married secretly in 1911. Their main residence from around 1912 being Ivy House in Golders Green, the Jewish area of London. A dance school was also run from the house. Pavlova's ballet entourage grew from six to sixty, all under his management.
Following Pavlova's death in 1931 he continued to be involved in ballet and toured with a group of Russians around the world. In 1938 he managed the Ballets Russes de Colonel de Basil, later renaming them the Royal Covent Garden Russian Ballet Company.
He died in London on 5 February 1944. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes were placed beneath those of Anna Pavlova in the columbarium.

Publications