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Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is regarded by some as the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.
Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE, known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China, where her father was transferred for his work. Her training in Shanghai was with Russian expatriate dancer Georgy Goncharov, contributing to her continuing interest in Russian ballet. Returning to London at the age of 14, she was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded Alicia Markova as prima ballerina of the company in 1935. The Vic-Wells choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, wrote numerous parts for Fonteyn and her partner, Robert Helpmann, with whom she danced from the 1930s to the 1940s.
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.
Prima ballerina assoluta is a title awarded to the most notable of female ballet dancers. To be recognised as a prima ballerina assoluta is a rare honour, traditionally reserved only for the most exceptional dancers of their generation. Originally inspired by the Italian ballet masters of the early Romantic ballet, and literally meaning absolute first ballerina, the title was bestowed on a prima ballerina who was considered to be exceptionally talented, above the standard of other leading ballerinas. The title is very rarely used today and recent uses have typically been symbolic, either in recognition of a prestigious international career, or for exceptional service to a particular ballet company. There is no universal procedure for designating who may receive the title, which has led to dispute in the ballet community over who can legitimately claim it. It is usually a ballet company that bestows the title, however some dancers have had the title officially sanctioned by a government or head of state, sometimes for political rather than artistic reasons. Less common is for a dancer to become identified as a prima ballerina assoluta as a result of public and critical opinion.
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Deanne Bergsma is a South African ballerina, who made her career in the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden. She was born in 1941 and showed early promise as a dancer, She first came to London in 1957 to take up a place in the Royal Ballet School, having been talent-spotted by Claude Newman, former principal dancer and ballet-master of the Vic-Wells Ballet and now a visiting examiner of the Royal Academy of Dance. In two years she had graduated from the school and joined the Royal Ballet company in 1957. She climbed rapidly through the ranks to become a principal ballerina and appeared in a wide array of roles, both classical and contemporary, until her retirement in 1975. This eighteen-year career coincided with an exciting period for the Royal Ballet. Apart from the stream of new works from Ashton and Macmillan the company's resident director-choreographers, it was the heyday of the partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. The company was touring worldwide and was rarely out of the headlines.
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Lorena Feijóo is a Cuban former ballet dancer. Her dance career started in 1988 at the Cuban National Ballet, but left Cuba two years later for more opportunities. After stints at Ballet de Monterrey, Royal Ballet of Flanders and Joffrey Ballet, she joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1999 as a principal dancer, and retired in 2017. She then became an associate artistic director of Bay Area Houston Ballet & Theatre. Her sister, Lorna Feijóo, was also a ballet dancer.
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Ann Marie DeAngelo is an American choreographer, director, producer, teacher, consultant and former dancer - an expert in all areas of dance. She was leading ballerina with the Joffrey Ballet, where early on she was pegged by Time magazine as "one of America's most outstanding ballerinas" and where she later served as associate director at the time of the company's move to Chicago in 1995.
Susan Jaffe is an American ballet dancer and arts administrator. She is currently the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre, where she had danced for 22 years and held the rank of principal dancer. She previously served as the dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the artistic director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. and the American Ballet Theatre.
Cynthia Harvey is an American former ballet dancer, ballet mistress and educator. She joined the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1974 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1982. In 1986, she joined The Royal Ballet, becoming the company's first American principal dancer. She returned to ABT two years later, and retired in 1996. She then started teaching and staging ballets across the world. In 2016, she was named artistic director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, the affiliated school of ABT. She stepped down from the position in May 2022.
Guadalupe Martínez Desfassiaux Serrano, known professionally as Lupe Serrano, was a Chilean-born, Mexican-trained American ballet dancer and teacher. She spent most of her dance career at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where she was the troupe's first Hispanic American principal dancer.
References
- ↑ "Nevada Ballet Theatre Names Cynthia Gregory Artistic Advisor, Establishes the Cynthia Gregory Center for Coaching". Benzinga. September 28, 2010.
- ↑ Ballet is the best exercise. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-54459-1.
- ↑ Cynthia Gregory dances Swan Lake. London. ISBN 978-0-671-68786-1.
