Marguerite Acarin (30 March 1904, in

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode () or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (), often simply called Saint-Josse or Sint-Joost, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the C ...

– 24 June 1999, in

Ixelles (French, ) or ( Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the munic ...

) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

dancer, choreographer, and artist.

Biography

Acarin is generally known by her stage-name, Akarova. She was called "the Belgian

Isadora Duncan Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...

". She studied music and dance under

Émile Jaques-Dalcroze Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (6 July 1865 – 1 July 1950) was a Swiss composer, musician, and music educator who developed Dalcroze eurhythmics, an approach to learning and experiencing music through movement. Dalcroze eurhythmics influenced Carl O ...

, creator of

eurhythmics Dalcroze eurhythmics, also known as the Dalcroze method or simply eurhythmics, is one of several developmental approaches including the Kodály method, Orff Schulwerk and Suzuki Method used to teach music to students. Eurhythmics was develope ...

, after which she joined the Antwerp ballet. She soon left due to disputes with the ballet mistress.. In 1922, attending a meeting arranged by

's brother Raymond, she met artist Marcel-Louis Baugniet, with whom she would collaborate for many years. Baugniet coined Marguerite's stage name. They married on 31 October 1923, but separated in 1928. In this period she danced, choreographed, and designed sets and costumes, in performances to works by composers such as

Igor Stravinski Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

and Maurice Ravel. Her second marriage, to artistic patron Louis Lievens, took place on 6 April 1935. This marriage too ended in a separation, in 1939. Noted

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

architect Jean-Jules Eggericx constructed a studio, performance venue, and home, for Akarova at number 72, Avenue de l'Hippodrome, Ixelles, in 1937. The venue opened on 30 January 1937 with performances by Akarova from Francis Poulenc's ''

Les Biches ''Les biches'' () ("The Hinds" or "The Does", or "The Darlings") is a one-act ballet to music by Francis Poulenc, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska and premiered by the Ballets Russes on 6 January 1924 at the Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo. Ni ...

'', Maurice Ravel's '' Boléro'', and Igor Stravinsky's ''

The Rite of Spring , image = Roerich Rite of Spring.jpg , image_size = 350px , caption = Concept design for act 1, part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of ' , composer = Igor Stravinsky , based_on ...

''. Performances at the Avenue de l'Hippodrome ended in 1957. After the closure, Akarova devoted her time to painting and sculpture. She died at home in 1999.

Filmography

In 1991, artist Ana Torfs and graphic designer Jurgen Persijn created the video portrait ''Akarova & Baugniet / L'entre-deux-guerres'' (Ana Torfs and Jurgen Persijn, 1991). The portrait evokes the life course of both Akarova and Marcel-Louis Baugniet with the help of witness reports and archival material, and places their life and work as artists in the context of the Belgian avant-garde from the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

. In 1991 also Michel Jakar made a video documentary about Akarova: '' J'aurais aimé vous voir dancer ... Madame Akarova '' (Michel Jakar, 1991). In the video seven young choreographers / dancers (Michèle Noiret, Marc Vanrunxt, Patricia Kuypers, Nicole Mossoux, Michèle Anne De Mey, Marie Chouinard and Karine Saporta) come together with Akarova in the Akarova studio.

In Search of Akarova

From 30 April to 11 June 2017, Ballets Confidentiels, a collaboration between choreographers/dancers Johanne Saunier and Ine Claes, organized the project In Search of Akarova. During that period they performed every Sunday a short dance performance, each time at a different location in Brussels. The choice of the different locations was inspired by the life of Akarova, and included the Madouplein / place Madou

), the Museumstraat / rue de la Musée (Brussels), the Koninginneplein / place de la Reine (

Schaerbeek (French and archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Evere and S ...

, the Park Pierre Paulus / Parc Pierre Paulus ( Saint-Gilles), the Akarovaplein / Place Akarova and the Brigitinnenstraat / rue Brigittines (Brussels), the Kapellemarkt / marche de la Chapelle (Brussels), the Weststation / gare de l'Ouest (

Sint-Jans-Molenbeek (French, ) or ( Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

) and the Akarovastraat / rue Akarova (

). Besides Johanne Saunier and Ine Claes, the dancer Guida Inês Mauricio, the musical duo Different Fountains and the drummers Joâo Lobo and Mathieu Calleja also participated in the project.

Streets and squares named after Akarova

In 2006, Les Brigittines, the Brussels Contemporary Art Center for Movement and Dance, proposed to the city of Brussels to rename the space behind the Brigittinenkapel / Chapelle des Brigittines. The reason was the expansion of art center and the change of view of the existing street behind the Brigittinenkapel. In April 2008, the space was officially renamed Akarovaplein / place Akarova, in honor of Akarova, who was a pioneer for Brussels in the field of movement and dance.Christophe Degreef
Akarovaplein verlevendigt buurt
in: Brussel Deze Week, 25/04/2008 Also in Elsene / Ixelles a street was named after Akarova: the Akarovastraat / rue Akarova.

References

* * Jean-Philippe Van Aelbrouck, ''ACARIN, Marguerite, dite AKAROVA'', in Eliane Gubin, Catherine Jacques, Valérie Piette & Jean Puissant (eds), ''Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIX^e et XX^e siècles.'' Bruxelles: Éditions Racine, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Acarin, Margueritte 1904 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Belgian sculptors 20th-century Belgian women artists People from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Belgian choreographers Belgian women choreographers Belgian women sculptors Belgian ballerinas