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Danseur Noble
A ''danseur noble'' traditionally was a male ballet dancer who projected great nobility of character. Over the last century, the term has been used to define a male principal dancer who performs at the highest theatrical level combining grace with ability. Some use ''danseur noble'' as the masculine equivalent to a ''Prima Ballerina,'' or to refer to the male partner of a ballerina during a pas de deux. Notable examples Historical and retired *Gaétan Vestris *Charles Le Picq *Vaslav Nijinsky *Léonide Massine *Serge Lifar *Adolph Bolm *Mikhail Mordkin *Anton Dolin (ballet dancer), Anton Dolin *Theodore Kosloff *Pavel Gerdt *Vakhtang Chabukiani *Pyotr Gusev *Asaf Messerer *Roman Jasinski, Roman Jasiński *Igor Youskevitch *Vasily Tikhomirov *Aleksey Yermolayev *Nikolai Fadeyechev *Sergei Filin *Askold Makarov *Konstantin Sergeyev *Erik Bruhn *Rudolf Nureyev *Edward Villella *Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux *Nicolas Le Riche *Carlos Acosta *Jean Guizerix *Vladimir Vasiliev (ballet da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Principal Dancer
A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be either gender. The position is similar to that of ''Soloist (ballet), soloist''; however, principals regularly perform not only solo (dance), solos, but also pas de deux as well as headlining performances they participate in. Principal dancers can be hired into a dance company or can also be a company dancer that is a Corps de ballet, corps de ballet dancer that gets promoted from within the company. That process can take multiple performance seasons or even years to achieve based on skill level and company interest. It is a coveted position in the company and the most prominent position a dancer can receive. The term is used mostly in ballet but can be used in other forms as well, such as modern dance. They are usually the star of the ballet. The term ''senior principal dancer'' is sometimes used as well. Synon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igor Youskevitch
Igor Youskevitch (, ) (13 March 1912 – 13 June 1994) was a ballet dancer and a choreographer of Russian-Ukrainian origin, famous as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century, as a master of the classic style, e.g., in ''Afternoon of a Faun'', and as a dance partner to Alicia Alonso. Early years Born in the village of Pyriatyn, Poltava Oblast, (then part of the Russian Empire, now Ukraine in central Ukraine), Youskevitch was the son of a judge. The family fled the Russian Revolution and in 1920 settled in Belgrade. Youskevitch was educated in Belgrade and graduated with a degree in engineering from Belgrade University. He did not begin his ballet training until the age of twenty although prior to that he was active in a Slavic athletic organisation and received early training as a gymnast. In 1932, the Yugoslavian ballerina Zenia Grunt saw him at a tournament and persuaded him to take up dancing as a career. He came to dance relatively late in life, however ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Guizerix
Jean Guizerix (born 27 October 1945) is a French ballet dancer and choreographer. Biography Born in Paris in 1945, Guizerix is described as "tall and muscular, with a brooding Basque face". He studied dance privately before he joined the Paris Opera Ballet (1964). He was nominated ''etoile'' (star) eight years later. His wife, Wilfride Piollet, is also a former ''etoile'' of the Paris Opera Ballet. They created their own company in 1980. His awards include the laureate of French Grand Prix de la Danse (1984) as well as chevalier of the Order for Merits (1989). In 1994, he premiered at the Aix Danse Festival ″Les sept dernières paroles du Christ″ ( The seven last words of the Christ) by Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ..., choreographed by Christine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlos Acosta
Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada (born 2 June 1973) is a Cuban-British ballet director and retired dancer who is director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He danced with many companies, including the English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. He was a permanent member of The Royal Ballet from 1998 to 2015. In 2003, he was promoted to principal guest artist, a rank that reduced his commitment, enabling him to concentrate on a growing schedule of international guest appearances and tours. He celebrated his farewell after 17 years at The Royal Ballet, dancing his last performance in November 2015 in ''Carmen'', which he both choreographed and starred in. In January 2020, Acosta was appointed as director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, succeeding David Bintley. In February, he announced the plans for his inaugural season, including a "Curated by Carlos" festival, and special performances with Alessandra Ferri. Early life and educ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolas Le Riche
Nicolas Le Riche (born 29 January 1972, in Sartrouville, Yvelines) is a French ballet dancer, choreographer and ballet director. Biography Le Riche entered the Paris Opera Ballet school at age ten and joined the corps de ballet six years later; his first ròle was in Gsovsky's ''Grand Pas Classique''. He was promoted to '' sujet'' in 1990 and '' premier danseur'' in 1991. Balletmaster Rudolf Nureyev cast him as Mercutio and subsequently Romeo in his version of ''Romeo and Juliet'', also in his ''Raymonda''; he then performed in Nijinska's ''Le Train Bleu'', in Robbins' '' In the Night'', Neumeier's '' Vaslaw'', Lander's '' Etudes'', Nureyev's ''La Bayadère'', Nijinsky's '' Afternoon of a Faun'', Mats Ek's version of ''Giselle'', ''Boléro'' by Maurice Béjart and Petit's '' Le Jeune Homme et la Mort'' and '' Les Forains''. He was promoted to the Paris Opera Ballet's highest rank, that of ''étoile'' (literally, ''star''), after his debut in the róle of Albrecht in the tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux
Jean-Pierre Bonnefous or Bonnefoux (; 9 April 1943 – 15 April 2025) was a French ballet dancer and instructor. He was during different tenures the artistic director of the Charlotte Ballet and the Chautauqua Institution. Life and career At 14, Bonnefous joined the Paris Opera Ballet, and became a star dancer at age 21. Under the direction of George Balanchine, Bonnefous became a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. He served twice as the president of the jury at the Prix de Lausanne (2005 and 2007). Bonnefous resided with his wife Patricia McBride and two children in Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ..., where he died on 15 April 2025, at the age of 82. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Villella
Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Special, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the National Medal of Arts. Education Villella enrolled in the School of American Ballet at age ten, and then the High School of Performing Arts, but then interrupted his dance studies to complete his college education. He attended the New York Maritime Academy, where he lettered in baseball and was a championship boxer. He graduated with a marine science degree in 1957, and rejoined the School of American Ballet. Career Villella became a member of the New York City Ballet in 1957, rising to soloist in 1958 and principal dancer in 1960, last dancing there in 1979. Among his most noteworthy performances were Oberon in George Balanchine's ballet ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is widely regarded as the preeminent male ballet dancer of his generation as well as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time. Nureyev was born on a Trans-Siberian Railway, Trans-Siberian train near Lake Baikal, in Siberia, Soviet Union, to a Tatars, Tatar family. He began his career in Leningrad with the company that in the Soviet era was called the Kirov Ballet (now called by its original name, the Mariinsky Ballet). In 1961 he Eastern Bloc emigration and defection, defected to the West, despite KGB efforts to stop him. This was the first defection of a Soviet artist during the Cold War, and it created an international sensation. He went on to dance with The Royal Ballet in London. From 1983 to 1989 he directed the Paris Opera Ballet and was its chief choreographer. He produced his own interpretations of numerous classical works including ''Swan Lake'', ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erik Bruhn
Erik Belton Evers Bruhn (3 October 1928 – 1 April 1986) was a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director, actor, and author. Early life Erik Bruhn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the fourth child and first son of Ellen (née Evers), owner of a hairdressing salon, and third child of Ernst Bruhn. His parents married shortly before his birth. Bruhn began training with the Royal Danish Ballet when he was nine years old, and made his unofficial début on the stage of Copenhagen's Royal Opera House in 1946, dancing the role of Adonis in Harald Lander's ballet ''Thorvaldsen.'' Career He was taken permanently into the company in 1947 at the age of eighteen. Bruhn took the first of his frequent sabbaticals from the Danish company in 1947, dancing for six months with the short-lived Metropolitan Ballet in England, where he formed his first major partnership, with the Bulgarian ballerina Sonia Arova. He returned to the Royal Danish Ballet in the spring of 1948 and was promo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Konstantin Sergeyev
Konstantin Mikhailovich Sergeyev (; – 1 April 1992) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, ballet master, pedagogue and choreographer for the Kirov Theatre. When the Kirov Ballet returned to Leningrad from Perm (where it had been moved during the war), Sergeyev became the head choreographer of the company. His first major work was to re-stage Sergei Prokofiev's ''Cinderella'', which is still performed in the present day. His teachers at Leningrad State Choreographic Institute were Mariya Kozhukhova, Vladimir Ponomaryov, and Viktor Semyonov ( Marina Semyonova's first husband). His first wife Feya Balabina was a prima ballerina of the Kirov ballet, as was his second wife Natalia Dudinskaya. He danced with Dudinskaya at the 1946 premiere of his ''Cinderella'' production for the Kirov.Sergey Prokofiev. Sergei Prokofiev: Autobiography, Articles, Reminiscences. University Press of the Pacific Honolulu, 2000, p.290. Galina Ulanova was his partner between 1930 and 1940. Sergeye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Askold Makarov
Askold Anatolievich Makarov (; 3 May 1925 – 25 December 2000) was a Russian ballet dancer and ballet professor, leading soloist at the Kirov Ballet during the 1960s and early 1970s. Director of the Saint Petersburg State Academic Ballet from 1976 to 2000. Awarded with: State Prize of the USSR (1951) and People's Artist of the USSR (1983). Askold Makarov became director of the theater ''Choreographic Miniatures'' after the Leonid Yakobson Leonid Veniaminovich Yakobson (; January 2 (15), 1904 — October 17, 1975), whose last name is sometimes spelled Jacobson, was a Jewish ballet choreographer from Russia. He was the founder of the Yacobson Ballet. Life and career Y ...'s death in 1975. Sources 1925 births 2000 deaths People from Rzhevsky District People from Rzhevsky Uyezd Russian male ballet dancers Russian ballet teachers Mariinsky Ballet first soloists 20th-century Russian ballet dancers Burials at Nikolskoe Cemetery {{ballet-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sergei Filin
Sergei Yurevitch Filin (; born 27 October 1970) is a Russian ballet dancer and the former artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater from 2011 through 2016. He is currently the Director of the Young Artists Ballet Program at the Bolshoi Theatre. Previously, he was the artistic director of the ballet at the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, serving in this capacity from 2008 to 2011. Ballet career Filin was born in Moscow. He started dancing at age seven at the V. Loktev's Children's Ensemble of Folk Dances. At this time, he appeared with Oleg Popov in the film ''The Sun in the Bag''. At the age of nine, he was accepted into the Moscow Choreographic Institute. In 1988, he joined the corps de ballet of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. He was promoted to the rank of Premier with the Bolshoi Ballet Company in 1990. He was also a principal dancer with the State Ballet of Georgia and guest soloist with the Vienna State Opera. His dance partners have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
