Cynthia Gregory

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Cynthia Gregory is an American ballerina whom Rudolph Nureyev called America's prima ballerina assoluta. She was born in 1946 in Los Angeles.

Miss Gregory’s parents encouraged her to take up dancing when she was five, hoping exercise would stem a history of childhood illnesses. By age six, she was en pointe. She first appeared on the cover of Dance magazine at the age of seven.

Much of Miss Gregory’s early training was with Carmelita Maracci. Awarded a Ford Foundation scholarship at age 14 to study with the San Francisco Ballet, she quickly rose to soloist and became shortly thereafter a principal dancer, while also dancing with the San Francisco Opera.

Miss Gregory joined American Ballet Theatre in 1965. In 1967, when ABT was on tour in San Francisco, Miss Gregory made an auspicious debut as Odette-Odile in Swan Lake. Her New York debut in that role later the same year marked her emergence as a major ballerina. The role is one in which her performance is still recognized as definitive.

Miss Gregory’s other lead roles include classical performances in Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Don Quixote and La Sylphide, as well as contemporary works including The Eternal Idol and At Midnight. At ABT alone, Miss Gregory danced in over 80 works, including over a dozen created for her.

Miss Gregory resigned from ABT in 1991 to pursue a more varied repertoire. She continued as a permanent guest artist with Cleveland San Jose Ballet, Dances...Patrelle and Connecticut Ballet Theatre until 1992. Her career has included guest performances with leading dance companies of the world, including National Ballet of Canada, Zurich State Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Cuba and Stuttgart Ballet. She appeared with Linda Ronstadt and Jimminy Cricket in Miss Ronstadt’s music video of “When You Wish Upon a Star.”

Miss Gregory was the recipient of the 1975 Dance Magazine Award, honoring her dedication to, and enrichment of, the art of dance. In 1978 she received the Harkness Ballet Foundation’s first annual Dance Award. She is the only recipient of two annual awards from Dance Educators of America in 1981 and 1988. In 1988, New York Woman magazine gave Miss Gregory its first “Showstopper of the Year” award. The New York Public Library designated her a “Lion of the Performing Arts” in 1989. She received the lifetime-achievement Certificate of Merit from the National Arts Club in 1991. Hofstra University awarded Miss Gregory an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 1993, and she received an honorary doctorate from State University of New York–Purchase College in 1995.

Her choreographic works include her Solo to Bach’s “Air on the G String,” as well as a two-minute rock video for Campbell’s Soup. She has staged classical ballets for dance companies around the world.

Miss Gregory is the author of Ballet is the Best Exercise (Simon & Schuster, 1986). Her children’s book, Cynthia Gregory Dances Swan Lake, was published in October 1990. She has been featured in advertising campaigns for American Express (“Do you know me? You know my toes!”), Raytheon and Rolex.

Since 1991, Miss Gregory has been Chairman of the Board of Career Transition for Dancers, a not-for-profit organization that provides career counseling, scholarships and other vital services to dancers who, for reasons of age or injury, are making a career change.

She presently stages classical ballets, coaches and gives master dance classes for dance companies around the world. Miss Gregory devotes some of her free time to interpreting her most memorable roles through pen-and-ink and watercolor drawings.

Miss Gregory is married to attorney Hilary B. Miller and is the mother of Lloyd Gregory Miller.