Famous Ballet Masters: Lives & Works
Biographies of notable ballet masters, ordered by how extensively their careers are documented.
By nationality
Alexandra Denisova
Canadian ballet dancer
Cesare Negri
Italian ballet dancer
Maya Plisetskaya
Russian ballet dancer (1925-2015)
Vasili Vainonen
Russian choreographer (1901–1964)
Bronislava Nijinska
Russian ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer (1891–1972)
José Carlos Martínez
ballet dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of the CND
David Howard
English ballet dancer and teacher
Enrico Cecchetti
Italian ballet dancer (1850–1928)
Marius Petipa
French-Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (1818–1910)
Jean-Georges Noverre
French dancer (1727-1810)
Lucile Grahn
Danish ballet dancer (1819–1907)
Antoine Houdar de La Motte
French author (1672–1731)
August Bournonville
Danish ballet master and choreographer (1805–1879)
Peter Boal
American ballet dancer
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor
Mukarram Turgunbaeva
Soviet ballet dancer, ballet master and actor (1913-1978)
Rostislav Zakharov
ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, ballet and opera director (1907–1984)
Matthew Bourne
British ballet and dance choreographer
Mikhail Mordkin
Russian-American ballet dancer (1880–1944)
Kenneth MacMillan
British ballet dancer and choreographer (1929–1992)
Karine Saporta
French choreographer
Suzanne Farrell
American ballerina
Nicolas Zverev
Russian-French dancer and ballet master
Donald MacLeary
British ballet dancer
Louis de Cahusac
French writer (1706-1759)
Nadezhda Nadezhdina
Soviet ballet dancer and ballet master (1908-1979)
Irek Mukhamedov
Soviet dancer, ballet teacher and pedagog
Pavel Gerdt
Russian ballet dancer (1844–1917)
Birgit Cullberg
Swedish ballet choreographer (1908-1999)
George Balanchine
American choreographer, dancer and ballet master (1904–1983)
Frederick Ashton
British dancer and choreographer (1904–1988)
Ivan Novikoff
Russian ballet master
Vladimir Bourmeister
Soviet choreographer, ballet master and ballet dancer (1904-1971)
Aurélie Dupont
French ballerina
Rudolf Nureyev
Soviet ballet dancer and choreographer (1938–1993)
Basil Thompson
American ballet dancer
Christian Berner
Swedish actor
Oleg Vinogradov
Russian choreographer and music educator
Konstantin Sergeyev
Russian dancer (1910-1992)
Jerome Robbins
American choreographer and director (1918–1998)
Armand Vestris
French choreographer
Bernara Karieva
Soviet ballet dancer and ballet master
Sonia Santiago
Spanish ballet dancer and music educator
Ray Barra
American ballet dancer
Elsa Maria Sylvestersson
Finnish ballet dancer (1924–1996)
Marietta Bonfanti
American ballet dancer (1845–1921)
Olga Brandt-Knack
German politician (1885–1978)
Léonide Massine
ballet dancer (1896–1979)
Lucien Petipa
French ballet dancer (1815–1898)
Paul Taglioni
Italian choreographer (1808-1884)
María de Ávila
Spanish ballet master
Benjamin Millepied
French dancer and choreographer
Nina Ananiashvili
Georgian artist
Julius Reisinger
Russian ballet choreographer (1828–1893)
Catherine Littlefield
American dancer
Maria Casentini
Austrian ballet dancer
Valery Panov
Soviet-Israeli dancer and choreographer
Alexander Alexeyevich Gorsky
Russian choreographer (1871–1924)
Sara Leland
American ballet dancer (1941-2020)
Hippolyte Monplaisir
French dancer (1821–1877)
Peter Ludwig Hertel
German composer (1817-1899)
Vaslav Nijinsky
Polish-Russian ballet dancer and choreographer
Louis Mérante
ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer (Paris Opera)
Jean-Baptiste Hus
French dancer and ballet master
Vakhtang Chabukiani
Georgian ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer (1910–1992)
Ninette de Valois
British dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet
Lindsay Anderson
British feature-film, theatre and documentary director and film critic (1923-1994)
Michel François Hoguet
French Ballet dancer and choreographer (1793-1871)
Ekaterina Maximova
Russian ballet dancer (1939-2009)
Vladimir Vasiliev
Soviet dancer
Laurent Hilaire
French ballet dancer
Marina Kondratyeva
Russian ballet dancer
William Forsythe
American choreographer (born 1949)
Georgina Parkinson
British ballet dancer (1938-2009)
Claude Balon
French dancer
Sigurd Harald Lund
Swedish choreographer (1823–1906)
Lev Ivanov
Russian ballet dancer and choreographer, creator of a "Swan Lake" (1834–1901)
John Clifford
American choreographer
Ivan Valberkh
Russian choreographer, ballet master and ballet dancer (1766-1819)
Carlo Blasis
Italian dancer, choreographer and dance teacher (1797–1878)
Alicia Alonso
Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer (1920-2019)
Pina Bausch
German dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and ballet director (1940–2009)
Alexander Ivanovich Pushkin
Russian ballet dancer (1907-1970)
Boris Knyazev
choreographer
Peter Martins
Danish danseur and choreographer
Martha Graham
American dancer and choreographer (1894–1991)
Vladimir Zakharov
Russian choreographer (1946–2013)
Boris Fenster
Soviet ballet dancer and ballet master (1916-1960)
Ilse Meudtner
German diver (1912–1990)
Leyla Shikhlinskaya
Azerbaijani actress
Sofia Golovkina
Russian ballet dancer and educator (1915–2004)
Pierre Beauchamp
French ballet choreographer, dancer and composer
Ivan Clustine
ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer (1862–1941)
Tatjana Gsovsky
dancer, teacher and choreographer (1901–1993)
Askold Makarov
Russian ballet dancer (1925-2000)
Igor Belsky
Russian ballet dancer (1925-1999)
John Neumeier
ballet dancer, choreographer and director
Serge Lifar
Ukrainian ballet dancer and choreographer (1905–1986)
Rudi van Dantzig
Dutch dancer and choreographer (1933–2012)
Edouard Borovansky
Australian ballet dancer, choreographer and director
Elena Poliakova
ballet dancer 1884—1972
Miroslava Pešíková
Czech dancer
Tamaz Vashakidze
Georgian ballet choreographer
Iliko Sukhishvili
Georgian dancer (1907-1985)
Genrikh Mayorov
Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (1936–2022)
Dominic Antonucci
American dancer
Hans Van Manen
Dutch choreographer and dancer
Stanislas Idzikowski
Polish dancer and choreographer
Loipa Araújo
Cuban ballet dancer
Lydia Sokolova
British dancer (1896–1974)
Yury Grigorovich
Russian dancer and choreographer (1927—2025)
Georgette Tsinguirides
German ballet dancer
Peggy Willis-Aarnio
choreographer, historian, author and teacher of classical ballet
Miranda Weese
American ballet dancer and ballet master
Tamara Purtova
Russian art-manager
Alexei Ratmansky
Ukrainian-Russian-American ballet dancer and choreographer
Filippo Taglioni
ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer
Vasily Tikhomirov
Russian ballet dancer (1876–1956)
Nathalie Krassovska
Russian-born ballerina (1914–2013)
Merle Park
British prima ballerina