List of prima ballerinas
Encyclopedia
Here follows a list of prima ballerinas, the second highest title awarded a ballerina
Ballerina
A ballerina is a title used to describe a principal female professional ballet dancer in a large company; the male equivalent to this title is danseur or ballerino...
and quite rare.
- Mademoiselle AmbroisineMademoiselle AmbroisineFrançoise-Ambroise Acolet , called Mademoiselle Ambroisine, was a French actress and ballet dancer...
- Nina AnaniashviliNina AnaniashviliNina Ananiashvili is a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia.- Career :...
- Maniya Barredo
- Svetlana BeriosovaSvetlana BeriosovaSvetlana Beriosova was a British prima ballerina who danced with the Royal Ballet of England for more than 20 years....
- Natalia BessmertnovaNatalia BessmertnovaNatalia Igorevna Bessmertnova was a Soviet prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet and a People's Artist of the USSR .-Life:...
- Darcey BussellDarcey BussellDarcey Andrea Bussell CBE is a retired English ballerina. Trained at the Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet School, she was later employed by the Royal Ballet, where she was promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer and would become recognised as one of the greatest English ballerinas of...
- Yvette ChauviréYvette ChauviréYvette Chauviré is a French prima ballerina who was born in Paris. Her dancing career was from 1937 to 1972. She celebrated her 90th birthday in 2007. She was the étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet, and later its director. She is also the holder of the Légion d'Honneur...
- Ludmilla ChiriaeffLudmilla ChiriaeffLudmilla Chiriaeff, was a Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer, and director.Born in Riga, Latvia, she trained in Berlin with Alexandra Nicolaieva, a former prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet....
- Choi Tae-Ji
- Natalia DudinskayaNatalia DudinskayaNatalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya was a Russian prima ballerina who dominated the Kirov Ballet in the 1930s and 1940s.Dudinskaya's mother was Natalia Tagliori, a ballerina coached by Enrico Cecchetti. Trained by Agrippina Vaganova, Dudinskaya matriculated from her school in 1931. She danced all the...
- Lisa Macuja-ElizaldeLisa Macuja-ElizaldeLisa Teresita Pacheco Macuja-Elizalde is a Prima Ballerina. She is the first Philippine ballerina, and first foreign soloist who ever joined the Kirov Ballet in 1984. In the Philippines, she is the Artistic Director of Ballet Manila and Vice-Chairman of the Philippine UNESCO National Commission...
- Eva EvdokimovaEva EvdokimovaEva Evdokimova-Gregori was a prima ballerina with the Royal Danish and Berlin Opera Ballets.Born in Geneva, Switzerland to a Bulgarian father and an American mother, Evdokimova, an American citizen, began her ballet studies as a child in Munich, before attending the Royal Ballet School in London,...
- Yekaterina GeltzerYekaterina GeltzerYekaterina Vasilyevna Geltzer was a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet who danced in the theatre from 1898 to 1935. She worked with Marius Petipa, Sergei Diaghilev, and Reinhold Glière. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, she helped to preserve the art of ballet in Russia...
- Beryl GoldwynBeryl GoldwynBeryl Goldwyn - now Beryl Karney - is an English ballet dancer.Born near London, she started dancing at the age of three. She attended the Royal Ballet School and performed with the Royal Ballet in The Sleeping Princess , with Dame Margot Fonteyn, when the Royal Opera House reopened after the...
- Kathleen GorhamKathleen GorhamKathleen Gorham OBE was an Australian ballerina.Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, she lived much of her life in Melbourne...
- Carlotta GrisiCarlotta GrisiCarlotta Grisi, real name Caronne Adele Josephine Marie Grisi was an Italian ballet dancer born in Visinada, Istria . She was trained at the ballet school of Teatro alla Scala in Milan and later with dancer/balletmaster Jules Perrot...
- Sylvie GuillemSylvie GuillemSylvie Guillem CBE is a French ballet dancer. She was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She is currently performing contemporary dance as an Associate Artist of London's Sadler's...
- Evelyn HartEvelyn HartEvelyn Anne Hart, CC, OM, FRSC is a Canadian ballerina and former principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.Born in Toronto, Ontario, she studied dance at the Dorothy Carter School of Dance in London, Ontario and later on at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School...
- Rosella HightowerRosella HightowerRosella Hightower was an American ballerina who achieved fame in both the United States and Europe.-Biography:...
- Avdotia IstominaAvdotia IstominaEvdokia or Avdotia Ilyinichna Istomina was the most celebrated Russian ballerina of the 19th century.She was orphaned early. But she was lucky: she was accepted into the Imperial Theater School, where children can live in complete security.A pupil of Charles Didelot, she debuted in the Imperial...
- Rowena JacksonRowena JacksonRowena Othlie Jackson MBE is a New Zealand prima ballerina. Jackson was born in Invercargill, to William Ernest Jackson and Lilliane Jane, née Solomon. She attended Epsom Girls' Grammar School, in Auckland, and in 1941 won the first Royal Academy of Dancing Scholarship in New Zealand. In 1946 ...
- Karen KainKaren KainKaren Alexandria Kain, CC is a retired Canadian ballet dancer, and currently the Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada.-Early Training:...
- Tamara KarsavinaTamara KarsavinaTamara Platonovna Karsavina was a famous Russian ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was most noted as a Principal Artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and later the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev...
- Kim Joo-won
- Ninel KurgapkinaNinel KurgapkinaNinel Alexandrovna Kurgapkina was a Russian dance teacher and former prima ballerina for the Kirov Ballet with over 50 years stage experience. She was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1974....
- Margot LanderMargot LanderMargot Ella Florentz Lander , a prima ballerina with the Royal Danish Ballet, was the most important Danish ballerina of the first half of the twentieth century....
- Pierina LegnaniPierina LegnaniPierina Legnani was an Italian ballerina, a terre-à-terre virtuosa extraordinaire, considered one of the greatest ballerinas of all time.-Career:...
- Emma LivryEmma LivryEmma Livry was one of the last ballerinas of the Romantic ballet era and a protégée of Marie Taglioni...
- Ulyana LopatkinaUlyana LopatkinaUlyana Vyacheslavovna Lopatkina is a principal dancer at the Kirov Ballet/Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. She studied at the Vaganova Academy with Natalia Dudinskaya. Upon graduation Lopatkina joined the Kirov/Mariinsky Theatre Ballet in 1991, and was promoted to principal dancer in 1995...
- Freya Monroy
- Natalia MakarovaNatalia MakarovaNataliya Romanovna Makarova is the legendary Soviet-Russian-born prima ballerina. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that “Her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation.” She has also won awards as an...
- Tatiana MamakiTatiana MamakiTatiana Varouti Mamaki was a notable Greek dancer and choreographer.- Life and work :She studied dance in Athens at Raymons School and later in Poland where she worked at the Warsaw Opera as a dancer ; in 1939 she returned to Athens to work for the Greek National Opera.On 5 March 1940 the Greek...
- Andrée MarlièreAndrée MarlièreAndrée Marlière is a Belgian ballet dancer and painter.-Ballet education:...
- Ekaterina MaximovaEkaterina MaximovaEkaterina Sergeevna Maximova was a Soviet and Russian ballerina of international renown.-Career:Maximova was born in Moscow, Soviet Union. An artist who combined great technical prowess with piquant prettiness, Maximova enjoyed her greatest successes in Giselle, Don Quixote, Cinderella and The...
- Patricia McBridePatricia McBridePatricia McBride is a ballerina who spent nearly 30 years dancing with the New York City Ballet....
- Maya PlisetskayaMaya PlisetskayaMaya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya , born is a Russian ballet dancer, frequently cited as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Maya danced during the Soviet era at the same time as the great Galina Ulanova, and took over from her as prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi in 1960...
- Nadia NerinaNadia NerinaNadia Nerina was a South African ballerina. She moved to England and joined the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, where she became a prima ballerina at the age of 25. She was one of the first western dancers to appear with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow during the Cold War...
- Anna Pavlova
- Olga PreobrajenskaOlga PreobrajenskaOlga Iosifovna Preobrajenska was probably the best loved ballerina of the Russian Imperial Ballet....
- Roma Pryma-BohachevskyRoma Pryma-BohachevskyRoma Pryma-Bohachevsky was an internationally recognized dancer and choreographer, who instructed thousands of students in the art of ballet and Ukrainian dance.-Education:...
- Marie RambertMarie RambertDame Marie Rambert DBE was a Polish-Jewish dancer and dance pedagogue who exerted a great influence on British ballet, both as a dancer and teacher.- Early years and background :...
- Tatiana RiabouchinskaTatiana RiabouchinskaTatiana Mikhaylovna Riabouchinska was a Russian-born prima ballerina.She was born in Moscow in 1917. She was trained by the great Mathilde Kschessinska, and was later a prima ballerina in France. Together with Irina Baronova and Tamara Toumanova she was the third of Colonel W. de Basil's "baby...
- Tamara RojoTamara RojoTamara Rojo is a Spanish prima ballerina, and is currently a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet in London.Rojo was born in Montreal, Canada, to Spanish parents who moved back to Spain when she was four months old...
- Ekaterina SankovskayaEkaterina SankovskayaEkaterina Sankovskaya was a Russian dancer who graduated from the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet School in 1836. Revered for her celebrated performances in the title roles of such works as Giselle and La Esmeralda, Sankovskaya was among the most admired ballerinas of her time in Moscow...
- Ludmila SemenyakaLudmila SemenyakaLudmila Semenyaka is a Soviet ballerina, born in Leningrad. She studied at the Vaganova School as a pupil of Nina Belikova. She joined the Kirov Ballet in 1970 and later the Bolshoi Ballet in 1972, where she was a prima ballerina. She was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1986 and received the...
- Polina SemionovaPolina SemionovaPolina Semionova, born in Moscow in 1984, is a classical ballet dancer and Principal with the Berlin State Opera. She is regarded as a Prima Ballerina and is one of the youngest dancers to achieve this particular kind of recognition....
- Marina Semyonova
- Lynn SeymourLynn SeymourLynn Seymour is a retired Canadian ballerina and choreographer.She was born Lynn Springbett and studied ballet in Vancouver....
- Olga Spessivtzeva
- Tatiana StepanovaTatiana Stepanova (Ballerina)Tatiana Stepanova, also Tetyana Stepanova, is a highly accomplished ballerina and choreographer. She is now the Artistic Director of Stepanova Ballet Academy and Toronto International Ballet Theatre...
- Marie TaglioniMarie TaglioniMarie Taglioni was a famous Italian/Swedish ballerina of the Romantic ballet era, a central figure in the history of European dance.-Biography:...
- Veronica TennantVeronica TennantVeronica Tennant, CC, FRSC is a Canadian dance and performance film producer and director, and former ballet dancer.She was born in London, England and moved to Canada with her parents and sister in 1955...
- Galina UlanovaGalina UlanovaGalina Sergeyevna Ulánova is frequently cited as being one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. Her flat in Moscow is designated a national museum, and there are monuments to her in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm....
- Agrippina VaganovaAgrippina VaganovaAgrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova was an outstanding Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method - the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School under the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa throughout the mid to late 19th century, though...
- Viengsay ValdésViengsay Valdés-Early life:Born in Havana, Viengsay Valdés moved at three months to Laos, where her father was the Cuban Ambassador. At age three, her family moved to the Seychelles. At six, she moved back to Havana, Cuba, where her grandmother continued her education....
- Ninette de ValoisNinette de ValoisDame Ninette de Valois, OM, CH, DBE, FRAD, FISTD was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet...
- Ekaterina VazemEkaterina VazemEkaterina Vazem was a Russian prima ballerina. She was made famous for first dancing the role of Nikiya in 1877 Marius Petipa's ballet, La Bayadère...
- Anastasia VolochkovaAnastasia Volochkova-Background:Volochkova was born into a middle class family in Saint Petersburg. Her father was a table tennis champion and coach, and her mother was a tour guide. Volochkova has been married once, and she has a daughter, Ariadna, born in 2005...
- Miyako YoshidaMiyako YoshidaMiyako Yoshida is a Japanese ballet dancer. She was a Principal Guest Artist of The Royal Ballet as well as a Principal dancer in K-ballet, Japan.-Biography:...
- Maria TallchiefMaria TallchiefMaria Tallchief was the first native-American prima ballerina. From 1942 to 1947 she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but she is best known for her time with the New York City Ballet from 1947 to 1965.-Early life:...