List of dance personalities

This is a partial list of people involved in dance.

Alphabetical

A

Alvin Ailey – modern choreographer
Alicia Alonso – Cuban prima ballerina assoluta
Elena Andreianova – considered the outstanding Russian ballerina of the romantic genre
Gasparo Angiolini – Italian ballet dancer, choreographer and theoretician
Ann-Margret (no surname) – Swedish-American dancer, actress, and singer in films; Viva Las Vegas
Frederick Ashton – British ballet dancer and choreographer
Adele Astaire – American Broadway dancer and singer; Fred Astaire's dance partner, 1905-1931
Fred Astaire – American film and Broadway dancer, choreographer, singer and actor

B

George Balanchine – choreographer credited for bridging classical and modern ballet
Ashley Banjo – choreographer and leader of Diversity (dance troupe)
Marie Barch (1744-1827), first native Danish ballerina
Mikhail Baryshnikov – Russian ballet dancer
Vytautas Beliajus – Lithuanian-American, considered the father of international folk dance
Hanna Berger – German-Austrian dancer and resistance fighter
Hannelore Bey – German ballet dancer
Gertrud Bodenwieser – Austrian dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and pioneer of modern dance
Roberto Bolle – Italian principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre
Antoine Bournonville – French ballet dancer
August Bournonville – Danish ballet dancer and choreographer
Julie Bournonville – ballet dancer
Julio Bocca – Argentine ballet dancer
Kent Boyd – American teen dancing sensation; runner-up of Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance; contemporary jazz, Broadway
James Brown – African American dancer, entertainer, singer, musician and songwriter
Erik Bruhn – Danish ballet dancer and choreographer
Cheryl Burke – American ballroom and Latin dancer
Darcey Bussell – British ballet dancer

C

Rita Cadillac – Brazilian dancer and singer
Leslie Caron – French-born ballet dancer and American film actress
Yvonne Cartier – British ballet dancer, mime and teacher
Irene Castle – ballroom dancer
Vernon Castle – ballroom dancer
Vakhtang Chabukiani – ballet dancer
Guru Chandrasekharan – Indian dancer
Cyd Charisse – American ballet and film dancer
The Clark Brothers – tap dancers
Alina Cojocaru – Romanian ballet dancer
Deborah Colker – Brazilian writer, theater director, dancer and choreographer
Calico Cooper – American film actress/dancer, daughter of Alice Cooper
Misty Copeland – American ballet dancer
Angel Corella – Spanish premier danseur
Joaquín Cortés – Spanish ballet dancer and choreographer
John Cranko – British ballet dancer and choreographer
Dick Crum – American prominent folk dance teacher
Merce Cunningham – choreographer

D

Sophie Daguin – ballet mistress and ballerina
Dan Dailey – American film actor and dancer
Jean Dauberval – French dancer and choreographer
Shiamak Davar – Indian choreographer
Louis Deland – ballet master, ballet dancer, choreographer
Gaby Deslys – French ballroom dancer and actress
Prabhu Deva – Indian dancer and choreographer
Charles-Louis Didelot – French dancer and choreographer
Anton Dolin – English ballet dancer and choreographer
Anthony Dowell – English ballet dancer and choreographer
Remo D'Souza – Indian Bollywood choreographer
Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo a.k.a. "Nappytabs" – dance teachers, choreographers, and creative directors
Isadora Duncan – "mother of modern dance"
Katherine Dunham – pioneer of black dance, anthropologist, dancer, choreographer, creator of the Dunham Technique
Irina Dvorovenko – Ukrainian ballet dancer

E

Andre Eglevsky – Russian-American ballet dancer and teacher; performed in Charles Chaplin's film Limelight
Fanny Elssler – Austrian ballet dancer

F

Suzanne Farrell – ballet dancer
Jane Farwell – folk dance teacher
Marie Favart – French ballet dancer
Lorena Feijóo – Cuban ballet dancer
Lorna Feijóo – Cuban ballet dancer
Michel Fokine – Russian choreographer
Margot Fonteyn – foremost British ballerina and assoluta
Bob Fosse – American dancer and musical theater choreographer
Alina Frasa – Finnish ballet dancer and choreographer
Anine Frölich – Danish ballerina

G

Louis Gallodier – ballet master and choreographer
Asen Gavrilov – Bulgarian ballet dancer and choreographer
Mitzi Gaynor – American film actress and dancer
Gisa Geert – Austrian actress and choreographer
Yekaterina Geltzer – prima ballerina of the Bolshoi in the 1910s and 1920s
Adeline Genée – Danish ballet dancer
Yvonne Georgi – German ballet dancer
Elizaveta Gerdt – Russian dancer and teacher
Pavel Gerdt – "Prince of the St Petersburg stage"
Ailes Gilmour – early Martha Graham dancer, socialist activist, and sister of Isamu Noguchi
Alexander Godunov – Russian dancer who defected to the West
Jeffrey Golladay – American ballet dancer
Chachi Gonzales – American hip-hop dancer
Betty Grable – American film actress and dancer
Martha Graham – American dancer and choreographer
Yury Grigorovich – Russian dancer and choreographer
Fabio Grossi – Italian ballet dancer

H

MC Hammer – American hip hop dancer, rapper and choreographer
Mata Hari – Dutch born dancer, courtesan and alleged spy
Evelyn Hart – ballet dancer
Rita Hayworth – American film dancer and actress
Robert Helpmann – ballet dancer
Heike Hennig – German dancer and choreographer
Audrey Hepburn – ballerina and movie star
Laurent Hilaire – French ballet dancer, ballet master and associate director of the Paris Opera Ballet
Hedda Hjortsberg – ballet dancer
Hilde Holger – Austro-British expressionist dancer, choreographer, and pioneer of physically integrated dance
Anna Sophia Holmstedt – ballet dancer
Melissa Hough – Houston ballet principal
Dulcie Howes – South African ballet dancer and founder of Cape Town City Ballet
Sterling Hyltin – New York City ballet principal

J

Janet Jackson – American dancer, choreographer, actor and singer
Michael Jackson – American dancer, choreographer, singer and entertainer
Rowena Jackson – New Zealand prima ballerina of the Royal Ballet
Zizi Jeanmaire – French ballet dancer
Raghav Juyal – unique dancer in India, known for croax style, choreographer, dancer

K

Karen Kain – Canadian prima ballerina
Vera Karalli – ballet dancer and actress
Gene Kelly – American film and stage dancer, choreographer, singer, actor and film director
Farah Khan – Indian Bollywood choreographer and filmmaker
Saroj Khan – Indian Bollywood choreographer
Michael Kidd – American Broadway and film choreographer and dancer
Gelsey Kirkland – former legendary American Ballet Theatre and Principal dancer with the New York City Ballet
Maria Kochetkova – principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet
Gertrud Kraus – Israeli pioneer of modern dance
Mathilde Kschessinska – second prima ballerina assoluta

L

Rudolf Laban – choreographer, inventor of Labanotation
Jean-Baptiste Landé – founder of the Russian ballet
Louise Lecavalier – icon of Canadian contemporary dance
Pierina Legnani – first prima ballerina assoluta
Lawrence Leritz – American dancer and choreographer
Tracy Li – Chinese ballet dancer; a senior principal in the Cape Town City Ballet, South Africa
Serge Lifar – Ukrainian ballet dancer and choreographer
Maude Lloyd – South African ballerina and dance critic
Jennifer Lopez – American (Puerto Rican descent) dancer, singer and actress
Lydia Lopokova – Russian ballet dancer

M

Shantanu Maheshwari – Indian dancer, choreographer and actor
Natalia Makarova – Russian ballet dancer
Marianna Malińska (1767–fl.1797) – first native ballerina in Poland
William Matons – WPA-era, 1930s modern dancer and choreographer, known later during Calypso craze as Calypso Joe, and later still as General Hershy Bar
Sabrina Matthews – Canadian ballet choreographer and former ballet dancer
Vrushika Mehta – Indian contemporary dancer and television actress
Sulamith Messerer – founder of Japanese ballet
Jo Mihaly – German dancer and writer
Ann Miller – American tap dancer, singer, and actress, especially in films
Arthur Mitchell – American artistic director, educator, choreographer and dancer
Shakti Mohan – Indian contemporary dancer and winner of Dance India Dance 2
Baisali Mohanty – Indian classical dancer and choreographer
Gillian Murphy – principal ballet dancer for the American Ballet Theatre
Arthur Murray – dance instructor and businessman, known for the Arthur Murray Dance Studios franchise

N

Gene Nelson – American film dancer, actor and television director
Nadia Nerina – South African ballet dancer
Nicholas Brothers – African American dancing brothers (Fayard and Harold) known for their acrobatic techniques
Vaslav Nijinsky – Russian ballet dancer and choreographer
Ena Noël – Australian children's author and ballet dancer
Charlotta Norberg – Swedish ballerina
Ivan Novikoff – ballet master, founder of Novikoff School of Russian-American Ballet
Marianela Nuñez – Royal Ballet ballerina
Rudolf Nureyev – Russian ballet dancer

O

Donald O'Connor – American dancer, singer and actor
Simona Orinska – only butoh artist in Latvia; multidisciplinary artist; contemporary dancer, poet, director and choreographer of many art projects; practitioner of dance therapy or dance movement therapy
Sonia Osorio – Ballet de Colombia founder

P

Maria Palmer – Austrian-born American actress and dancer
Hermes Pan – film choreographer, especially in collaboration with Fred Astaire
Merle Park – Zimbabwean ballerina at the Royal Ballet
Anna Pavlova – legendary Russian prima ballerina, who brought ballet to the world
Rosie Perez – American (Afro-Puerto Rican descent) dancer, choreographer, actress and director
Marius Petipa – choreographer who created the classical ballet
Maya Plisetskaya – prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1960 to 1990
David Poole – South African ballet dancer and ballet master at Cape Town City Ballet
Eleanor Powell – American actress and dancer of the 1930s and 1940s, known for her exuberant solo tap dancing
Olga Preobrajenska – Russian dancer and teacher
Juliet Prowse – South African-American dancer, actress, and singer in many films, including G.I. Blues, which also starred Elvis Presley
Brian Puspos – American hip-hop dancer, choreographer

R

Daniel Rajna – South African ballet dancer, currently a principal in the Cape Town City Ballet
Tina Ramirez – founder and artistic director of Ballet Hispanico
Moon Ribas – choreographer with an cybernetic sensor attached to her body that allows her to feel earthquakes
Ginger Rogers – American film and stage dancer, singer and actress, most remembered as partner of Fred Astaire
Pedro Romeiras – dancer gold medal winner 1982 II Prix Français de la Danse
Gunhild Rosén – Swedish ballerina, ballet master and choreographer

S

Ruth St. Denis – American dancer who tried to fuse modern dance with Egyptian and east Asian ideas; famously in collaboration with her partner Ted Shawn
Olga Sandberg (born 1844) – Swedish ballerina
Margrethe Schall – ballerina
Anders Selinder – ballet master and choreographer
Lynn Seymour – Canadian ballet dancer
Uday Shankar (Bengali: উদয় শংকর) (1900–1977) – pioneer of modern dance in India; world-renowned Indian dancer and choreographer; known for adapting Western theatrical techniques to traditional Indian classical dance, imbued with elements of Indian classical, folk, and tribal dance, thus laying the roots of modern Indian dance, which he popularized in India, Europe, and the United States in the 1920s and 1930s
Ted Shawn – ballet dancer often in collaboration with his influential partner Ruth St. Denis; they were the creators of Denishawn
Moira Shearer – Scottish ballet dancer and actress in The Red Shoes
Teresa Simas – Portuguese dancer and choreographer
Mary Skeaping – British ballerina
Charlotte Slottsberg – ballet dancer
Yuri Soloviev – soloist of the Kirov Theatre
Phyllis Spira-Boyd – South African ballet dancer
Lisa Steier – Swedish ballerina

T

Marie Taglioni – Italian ballet dancer
Paul Taylor – American choreographer
Twyla Tharp – American dancer and choreographer
Emmanuel Thibault (born 1974) – dancer, Paris Opera Ballet
Lisa Joann Thompson (born 1969) – Warrior Girl, Laker Girl, Fly Girl, and Motown Live dancer
Mark Tompkins (born 1954) – American-born French artist, dancer and choreographer of contemporary dance
Tamara Toumanova (1919–1997) – one of Balanchine's three "Baby Ballerinas"
Elizabeth Triegaardt – South African ballerina and current director of Cape Town City Ballet
Roger Tully (born 1928) – dancer, teacher

U

Galina Ulanova (1910–1998) – Soviet prima ballerina assoluta

V

Agrippina Vaganova – founder of Vaganova method
Dame Ninette de Valois – founder of the Royal Ballet of London
Vera-Ellen – American Broadway and film dancer and actress
Gwen Verdon – Broadway dancer and actress
Ben Vereen – Tony Award-winning, Emmy Award-nominated actor, dancer and singer
Anastasia Volochkova – Russian prima ballerina

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List of dance personalities

Alphabetical

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Z

By occupation in ballet

Theatre directors

Choreographers

Dancers

Teachers

Designers and scenographers

See also