André Eglevsky

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André Eglevsky as Harlequin in the Balachine/Drigo Harlequinade Pas de Deux, New York City, 1952
André Eglevsky as Harlequin in the Balachine/Drigo Harlequinade Pas de Deux, New York City, 1952

André Eglevsky (21 December 1917 – 4 December 1977) was a Russian-born American ballet dancer and teacher.

Eglevsky was born in Moscow, but was taken to live in France when he was eight, his mother having decided that his talent as a dancer demanded that he be properly trained. He studied ballet with Maria Nevelskaya in Nice, Lubov Egorova, Mathilde Kschessinskaya, Alexandre Volinine, Olga Preobrajenskaya, and Leon Woicikowski in Paris, Nicholas Legat in London, and the School of American Ballet in New York City. At the age of fourteen he joined Col. de Basil's Ballet Russe, and after six months was dancing leading roles in such ballets as Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, and Les Présages. In 1935 he joined Igor Youskevitch as the company's Premier Danseur, and a year later joined René Blum's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

Eglevsky travelled to the United States in 1937, and was premier danseur in George Balanchine's American Ballet (later New York City Ballet) until 1938. He also danced at the Radio City Music Hall and in the Broadway musical Great Lady. After becoming an American citizen, in 1939 he rejoined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, staying there until 1942. For the following four years he danced with the Ballet Theatre (now the American Ballet Theatre), as well as dancing as a guest star with Léonide Massine's Ballet Russe Highlights in 1944 and 1945. In the late 1930s he married the ballerina Leda Anchutina.

In 1946 Eglevsky rejoined Col. de Basil, now director of the Original Ballet Russe, and a year later became premier danseur of Marquis George de Cuevas' Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo. From 1951 to 1958 he was a principal with the New York City Ballet.

In 1952 he appeared in Charlie Chaplin's film Limelight.

Upon his retirement in 1958, Eglevsky and his wife started a school in Massapequa, New York, and formed the Eglevsky Ballet Company. He died in Elmira, New York of a heart attack at the age of fifty-nine. He is the coolest person ever!

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