Famous Dance Teachers: Lives & Works
Biographies of notable dance teachers, ordered by how extensively their careers are documented.
By nationality
Alexandra Denisova
Canadian ballet dancer
Cesare Negri
Italian ballet dancer
Walter Laird
British dancer (1920–2002)
Alisa Bowens-Mercado
founder of the first Black female-owned beer company in Connecticut
Ivan Narodny
Estonian-Russian writer (1870-1953)
Maggie Black
American dancer and dance teacher (1930-2015)
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
Swiss composer, musician and music educator (1865-1950)
Françoise Prévost
French ballet dancer (1680-1741)
Tatiana Semenova
Russian ballerina (1920–1996)
Irmgard Bartenieff
American physical therapist and dance therapist (1900-1981)
Vera Trefilova
Russian dancer (1875–1943)
Anna Halprin
American dancer (1920–2021)
Giovanni Gallini
Italian dancer, choreographer and impresario
Vera Volkova
Russian ballet dancer (1904-1975)
Lupe Serrano
American ballet dancer (1930–2023)
Willem Engel
Dutch activist
Irene Castle
American actress and dancer (1893-1969)
Marianne Elser Crowder
American dancer & dance instructor
Valentin Zeglovsky
Russian ballet dancer (1908–1985)
Inga Andersen
Argentine-Canadian singer and dancer
Ruth Abramovitsch Sorel
German choreographer, dancer, artistic director and teacher (1907–1974)
James Waring
Choreographer and director (1922–1975)
Lizzie Rode
ballet dancer 1933—
Bonne Gauguin
Norwegian actress (1910-1989)
Maria Kekkonen
Finnish pornographic actress
Raven Walton
American reality television participant
Gaylene Sciascia
New Zealand choreographer and dance educator
Fabritio Caroso
Italian Renaissance dancing master and composer
Wilfride Piollet
French dancer (1943-2015)
Corinne Chochem
Jewish American choreographer, dance teacher and painter
Sonia Santiago
Spanish ballet dancer and music educator
Béatrice Massin
French choreographer
Roman Jasinski
Polish ballet dancer (1907–1991)
Raoul Auger Feuillet
French choreographer
Viviane Gauthier
Haitian dancer and teacher of Haitian folkloric dance (1918-2017)
Halifu Osumare
American choreographer and dance scholar
Laurel Martyn
Australian ballerina
Philippe Goibaut
French translator
Catherine Littlefield
American dancer
Joan Baldoví i Roda
Spanish politician
Aurelia Dobre
Romanian artistic gymnast, choreographer, and dance teacher (born 1972)
Olivia Geerolf
Belgian choreographer
Karin Waehner
French choreographer (1926-1999)
Christian Johansson
ballet dancer and teacher (1817–1903)
Mercedes Ellington
American dancer, choreographer, art director, and educator
Kalanidhi Narayanan
Indian dancer
Nora Kiss
French ballet dancer and dance teacher (1908-1993)
Violette Verdy
ballerina and ballet teacher (1933-2016)
Ülle Toming
Estonian dancer, actress, singer and dance pedagogue (1955-2025)
Deirdre Tarrant
Dance teacher, choreographer
Kazuo Ohno
Japanese dancer and choreographer (1906-2010)
Ann Hutchinson Guest
American dance notator (1918–2022)
Maritza Garrido-Lecca
Peruvian terrorist
Vakhtang Chabukiani
Georgian ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer (1910–1992)
Dai Ailian
ballerina (1916-2006)
Gerd Neggo
Estonian music educator, choreographer and dancer (1891-1974)
Toni Lander
Danish ballerina (1931–1985)
Jean de Koven
American dancer
Marie Taglioni
Italian ballet dancer (1804-1884)
Helju Mikkel
Estonian folk dancer and choreographer (1925-2017)
Eugenia Popescu-Județ
Romanian musicologist, choreographer and ethnomusicologist (1925-2011)
Carlo Blasis
Italian dancer, choreographer and dance teacher (1797–1878)
Pierre Dulaine
Palestinian Dance Instructor
Joan Wulff
American fly fisher
Mathilde Kschessinska
Russian ballet dancer and princess
Kum Uma Sharma
Indian dancer
Grete Wiesenthal
Austrian ballerina (1885–1970)
Marion Tait
British ballet mistress and dancer
Ted Shawn
American dancer (1891–1972)
ʻIoane ʻŪkēkē
Hawaiian hula performer
Joan Lawson
English ballet dancer and writer
Beryl McBurnie
Trinidad and Tobago dancer
Tatjana Gsovsky
dancer, teacher and choreographer (1901–1993)
Konstanze Vernon
German choreographer (1939-2013)
C.K.Balagopalan
Indian classical dancer, choreographer and teacher (1939-2019), known for his contributions to Bharatanatyam and Kathakali
Len Goodman
British professional ballroom dancer
Britt Bendixen
Danish choreographer TV dancing judge and dance instructor (1942-2023)
Miroslava Pešíková
Czech dancer
K. V. Satyanarayana
Kuchipudi dancer, dance teacher
Mary Wigman
German dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor (1886–1973)
Gennaro Magri
Italian dancer, choreographer, pedagogue, and writer
Anbeta Toromani
Albanian dancer
Ellinor Hinks
dance teacher (1912-2004)
Kledi Kadiu
Albanian dancer-actor
De Ama Battle
American dancer, dance teacher, scholar of African dance; founder of Art of Black Dance and Music
Sally Brayley
Canadian-American ballet dancer
Luo Yunxi
Chinese actor, singer, and ballet dancer (b. 1988)
Martha Hill
American dance instructor (1900–1995)
Krystal Garib
Canadian artist, dancer, singer, actor, producer and arts/wellness coach
Tiina Kapper
Estonian dancer and dance pedagogue (1895-1947)
Anita Zahn
dancer and dance teacher (1903-1994)
Virginia Tanner
American dancer (1915–1979)
Vera Embree
American dancer and choreographer
Leon Wójcikowski
Polish dancer (1899-1975)
Augusta Maywood
American ballerina
Rosita Mauri
Catalan dancer and ballet teacher
LaDeva Davis
American television chef, dancer and educator (1944–2022)
Elizabeth Duncan
American dancer, dance and music educator (1871–1948)
José de Udaeta
Castanet player
Ann Dvorak
American actress (1911–1979)
Claire Helen Haywood
ballet teacher, artist
Eduard Holst
Danish playwright, composer, actor, dancer, and dance master
Domenico da Piacenza
dancer
Jules Perrot
French ballet dancer and choreographer (1810–1892)
Beatriz Consuelo
Brazilian dancer (1932-2013)
Valerie Preston-Dunlop
British choreographer
Valéria Dienes
Hungarian writer and philosopher (1879-1978)
Kaie Kõrb
Estonian ballet dancer (born 1961)
Thottassery Chinnammu Amma
Indian Mohiniyattam dance teacher
Claire Porter
American choreographer
Carolyn Brown
American choreographer and dancer
Valentina Kashuba
Russian ballet dancer
Suzanne Müller
Swiss rhythmic gymnast (born 1963)
Hana Machatová-Bogušovská
Czech rhythmic gymnast
Margaret Morris
British ballet dancer (1891–1980)
Cleo Nordi
Russian-Finnish ballerina
Jeanne Schwarz
French ballerina and dance teacher
Stevie Hunter
fictional character in Marvel Comics
Katja Wulff
german-swiss expressionist dancer and choreographer (1890–1992)
Kurt Jooss
German dancer, choreographer and influential art dance educator (1901-1979)