Famous Ballet Dancers and Ballerinas

A long line of famous ballet dancers over the years have made tremendous contributions to the art of ballet, and have made the craft what it is today. Whilst many of these dancers are still greatly remembered, others' names have faded into oblivion. Just some of these ballet dancers and ballerinas are listed below.

A

Alicia Alonso - great Cuban prima ballerina assoluta
Nina Ananiashvili - Georgian ballerina
Gasparo Angiolini - Italian ballet dancer, choreograph and theoretician
Frederick Ashton - British ballet dancer and choreographer

B

Mikhail Baryshnikov - Russian ballet dancer
Hannelore Bey - German ballet dancer
August Bournonville - Danish ballet dancer and choreographer
Julio Bocca - Argentine ballet dancer
Erik Bruhn - Danish ballet dancer and choreographer
Darcey Bussell - British ballerina

C

Leslie Caron - French-born ballerina and actress
Yvonne Cartier - British ballerina, mime and teacher
Rebecca Canchani, Prima Ballerina of the National Ballet Theatre of Puerto Rico
Vakhtang Chabukiani - ballet dancer
Cyd Charisse - American ballerina and film dancer
Alina Cojocaru - Romanian ballerina
Joaquín Cortés - Spanish ballet dancer and choreographer
John Cranko - British ballet dancer and choreographer

D

Anton Dolin - English ballet dancer and choreographer
Anthony Dowell - English ballet dancer and choreographer
Irina Dvorovenko - Ukrainian ballerina

E

Fanny Elssler - Austrian ballerina
Andre Eglevsky - Russian-American ballet dancer and teacher

F

Suzanne Farrell - American ballerina
Marie Favart - French ballerina
Margot Fonteyn - foremost British ballerina and assoluta

G

Yekaterina Geltzer - Prima ballerina of the Bolshoi in the 1910s and 1920s
Adeline Genée - Danish ballerina
Yvonne Georgi - German ballerina
Jeffrey Golladay - American ballet dancer
Fabio Grossi - Italian ballet dancer

H

Evelyn Hart - Canadian ballerina
Robert Helpmann - Australian ballet dancer
Dulcie Howes - South African ballerina and founder of Cape Town City Ballet

J

Rowena Jackson - New Zealand prima ballerina of the Royal Ballet
Zizi Jeanmaire - French ballerina

K

Karen Kain - Canadian prima ballerina
Vera Karalli - Russian ballerina and actress
Mathilde Kschessinska - the second prima ballerina assoluta

L

Pierina Legnani - the first prima ballerina assoluta
Tracy Li - Chinese ballerina
Serge Lifar - Ukrainian ballet dancer and choreographer
Maude Lloyd - South African ballerina and dance critic
Lydia Lopokova - Russian ballerina

M

Sabrina Matthews - Canadian ballet choreographer and former ballerina
Sulamith Messerer - Russian ballerina and founder of Japanese ballet

N

Vaslav Nijinsky - Russian ballet dancer and choreographer
Rudolf Nureyev - Russian ballet dancer
Nadia Nerina - South African ballerina
Leon Neshanian - Armenian ballet dancer

P

Merle Park - Zimbabwean ballerina at the Royal Ballet
Anna Pavlova - legendary Russian prima ballerina
Maya Plisetskaya - prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1960 to 1990
Sergiu Pobereznic - Romanian ballet principal dancer and teacher
David Poole - South African ballet dancer and ballet master at Cape Town City Ballet

R

Daniel Rajna - South African ballet dancer

S

Moira Shearer - Scottish ballerina and actress in the Red Shoes
Yuri Soloviev - soloist of the Kirov Theatre
Phyllis Spira-Boyd - South African ballerina
Lynn Seymour - Canadian ballerina

T

Marie Taglioni - Italian ballerina
Emmanuel Thibault - French ballet dancer - premier danseur at the Paris Opera
Tamara Toumanova - Georgian ballerina
Elizabeth Triegaardt - South African ballerina and director of Cape Town City Ballet