Charles Maurice Lisner OBE was a French-Australian dancer and the founder and first artistic director of the Queensland Ballet.
The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 by artistic director Hope Muir. Renowned for its diverse repertoire, the company performs traditional full-length classics, embraces contemporary work and encourages the creation of new ballets, as well as the development of Canadian dancers and choreographers.
The Australian Ballet (TAB) is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and director Dame Peggy van Praagh as founding artistic director. Today, it is recognised as one of the world's major international ballet companies and performs upwards of 150 performances a year.
Houston Ballet, operated by Houston Ballet Foundation, is a professional ballet company based in Houston, Texas. The company consists of 59 dancers and produces over 85 performances per year. It is the 5th largest ballet company in the United States.
Li Cunxin is a Chinese-Australian former ballet dancer turned stockbroker. He was the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet between 2012 and 2023.
Dame Margaret van Praagh was a British ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, repetiteur, producer, advocate and director, who spent much of her later career in Australia.
Leanne Faye Benjamin is a retired Australian ballet dancer who was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London. She was appointed artistic director at the Queensland Ballet in 2024. She stepped down from the position on 2 August 2024.
Garth de Burgh Welch is an Australian dancer and choreographer.
Kathleen Ann "Kathy" Gorham was an Australian ballerina.
Edouard Borovansky was a Czech-born Australian ballet dancer, choreographer and director. After touring with Anna Pavlova's company, he and his wife, Xenia, settled in Australia where they established the Borovansky Ballet company. This company provided the foundation for modern ballet in Australia and was subsequently used as the basis for the first national Australian ballet company, The Australian Ballet which was established in 1962.
François Klaus, is a ballet dancer and choreographer.
Janet Karin OAM was born in Perth, Australia in 1938. She became one of Australia's leading dancers in 1956, and has danced with the Victorian Ballet Guild, Borovansky Ballet, and was a founding member of The Australian Ballet. She is a Nationally and Internationally recognised dance educator, and is currently the Head of Artistic Studies and Kinetic Educator for the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne, Australia.
Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) is a classical ballet company based in Los Angeles. While rehearsals take place at the Los Angeles Ballet Center, the company tours its performances to venues across the metropolitan area, including the Dolby Theatre, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, and Royce Hall. A typical LAB season consists of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, a large or storybook ballet, and a mixed repertoire performance.
Greg Horsman is an Australian ballet choreographer, teacher, and retired dancer. In 2022, Dance Magazine Australia described him as "formerly one of the Australian Ballet's most poetic and classical of principal artists." He and his then-wife Lisa Pavane were a popular partnership during the 1980s and early 1990s, with the Washington Post referring to their "conspicuously poised, elegant dancing" and the New York Times calling them "two perfectly trained and appealing first-class dancers" during a performance of Giselle. Horsman was appointed Acting Artistic Director Queensland Ballet in July 2024. Horsman has been Assistant Artistic Director Queensland Ballet since 2023 and was previously the Chief Ballet Master and Director of Artistic Operations for the Queensland Ballet since 2013.
Mao's Last Dancer is a 2009 Australian film based on professional dancer Li Cunxin's 2003 autobiographical memoir of the same name. Li Cunxin is portrayed by Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Chi Cao, Australian Ballet dancer Chengwu Guo and Huang Wen Bin. The film also stars Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen and Amanda Schull.
Poul Rudolph Gnatt was a Danish dancer and balletmaster active in New Zealand.
The National Ballet of Washington, D.C. was an American national ballet company founded in 1962 by Jean Riddell, granddaughter of the founder of PET Evaporated Milk and artistic director Frederic Franklin, with financial support from the Ford Foundation. Its studios were located at 2801 Connecticut Avenue, NW, in Washington, D.C.
Henry Neville Haythorne was an Australian dancer, ballet master, artistic director, and teacher who performed in vaudeville, musicals, and ballet companies in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and Australia. He was assistant artistic director of the Scottish Ballet (1969–1974) and artistic director of the Queensland Ballet (1975–1978) and the Royal New Zealand Ballet (1981–1992).
Xenia Nikolaeva Smirnova Krüger Borovansky was a Russian-born dancer and choreographer, based in Australia after 1939. She was principal teacher at the Melbourne Academy of Russian Ballet, and active in running the Borovansky Ballet.
Rachel Cameron was an Australian ballet dancer and teacher. She was one of the leading dancers in early Australian ballet in the 1940s, performing with the Borovansky and Kirsova ballet companies, and was one of the first ballet dancers in Australia to reach the rank of principal. After emigrating to Great Britain she was an inspirational educator of ballet teachers at the Royal Academy of Dance in London for over forty years. In 2010, she received the Royal Academy of Dance's prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in recognition of her outstanding services to ballet.
