List of dance personalities

This is a partial list of people involved in dance

Alphabetical

A

• Alvin Ailey – modern choreographer
• Alicia Alonso – great Cuban prima ballerina assoluta
• Elena Andreianova – considered the outstanding Russian ballerina of the romantic genre
• Gasparo Angiolini – Italian ballet dancer, choreograph and theoretician
• Ann-Margret (no surname) – Swedish-American dancer, actress, and singer in the motion pictures. See Viva Las Vegas.
• Frederick Ashton – British ballet dancer and choreographer
• Adele Astaire – American Broadway dancer and singer, Fred Astaire's dance partner from 1905 through 1931
• Fred Astaire – American film and Broadway dancer, choreographer, singer and actor
• Kalman Robert Attila – Romanian ballet dancer
• Thilini Attygalla – Romanian ballet
• Adam Alonzo - Filipino Urban Dance Choreographer, Dancer and Teacher, Founder of Team Package Makers Philippines

B

• George Balanchine – choreographer credited for bridging classical and modern ballet
• Ashley Banjo – choreographer and leader of Diversity (dance troupe)
• Matt Barber – ballroom dance professional and writer
• 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 So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. season 7). Styles – Contemporary jazz, Broadway
• James Brown – African American dancer, entertainer, singer, musician and songwriter
• Erik Bruhn – Danish ballet dancer and choreographer
• Cheryl Burke – American Ballroom & Latin Dancer
• Darcey Bussell – British ballet dancer

C

• Rita Cadillac – Brazilian dancer and singer
• Leslie Caron – French-born ballet dancer and American motion picture actress
• Yvonne Cartier – British ballet dancer, mime and teacher
• Irene Castle – ballroom dancer
• Vernon Castle – ballroom dancer
• Rebecca Canchani – Prima Ballerina of the National Ballet Theater of Puerto Rico
• Vakhtang Chabukiani – ballet dancer
• Cyd Charisse – American ballet and film dancer
• The Clark Brothers – tap dancers
• Alina Cojocaru – Romanian ballet dancer
• Calico Cooper – American film actress/dancer, daughter of Alice Cooper
• Deborah Colker – Brazilian writer, theater director, dancer and choreographer
• Angel Corella – Spanish premier danseur
• Joaquín Cortés – Spanish ballet dancer and choreographer
• Samuel Cortez – Mexican dancer and choreographer
• John Cranko – British ballet dancer and choreographer
• Dick Crum – American prominent folk dance teacher
• Merce Cunningham – choreographer

D

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

E

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

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 Motion Picture 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 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
• Brenda"Sultryy" Gonzalez- multi-style TV and stage dancer and choreographer. Third Dance Appearance on American Idol intro T.V commercial like Opening Act in 2005. Sultryy is also a signed dance choreographer to her own record label Atlantic Records that she founded in the early 2000s that never has east coast dancers or artists.
• "Ginger and Fred" – Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire
• Betty Grable – American Motion Picture actress and dancer
• Martha Graham – American dancer and choreographer
• Pablito Greco – Greek dancer, choreographer, writer, and entrepreneur
• 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
• Heike Hennig – German dancer and choreographer
• Rita Hayworth – American film dancer and actress
• Robert Helpmann – ballet dancer
• 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
• Dulcie Howes – South African ballet dancer and founder of Cape Town City Ballet
• Guru Chandrasekharan – Indian dancer
• Sterling Hyltin – New York City ballet principal
• Melissa Hough – Houston 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

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 film maker
• 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 who is 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

• Marianna Malińska (1767–fl.1797) – first native ballerina in Poland
• Natalia Makarova – Russian ballet dancer
• 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 motion pictures
• Arthur Mitchell – American artistic director, educator, choreographer and dancer
• Shakti Mohan - Indian Contemporary dancer and winner of Dance India Dance 2
• Arthur Murray – famous dance instructor and businessman, known for the Arthur Murray Dance Studios franchise
• Baisali Mohanty – Indian classical dancer and choreographer
• Freya Monroy – principal ballet dancer and soloist for the Classical Ballet of Paris
• Gillian Murphy – principal ballet dancer for the American Ballet Theatre

N

• Gene Nelson – American motion picture dancer, actor and television director
• Nicholas Brothers – African American dancing brothers (Fayard and Harold ) known for their highly acrobatic techniques
• Vaslav Nijinsky – Russian ballet dancer and choreographer
• Ivan Novikoff – ballet master, founder of Novikoff School of Russian-American Ballet
• Rudolf Nureyev – Russian ballet dancer
• Nadia Nerina – South African ballet dancer
• Leon Neshanian – Armenian ballet dancer; performed for Queen of the United Kingdom (1958); at Opera La Scala (1961); live on KCET – 10/67
• Ena Noël – Australian children's author and ballet dancer
• Charlotta Norberg – Swedish ballerina
• Marianela Nuñez – Royal Ballet ballerina

O

• Donald O'Connor – American dancer, singer & actor
• Simona Orinska – only butoh artist in Latvia & a multidisciplinary artist – contemporary dancer, poet, director and choreographer of many art projects. She is also a Dance Therapy or Dance Movement Therapy practitioner.

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
• Sergiu Pobereznic – Romanian ballet principal dancer and teacher
• Olga Preobrajenska – Russian dancer and teacher
• Juliet Prowse – South Africas – American dancer, actress, and singer in many motion pictures. See G.I. Blues, which also starred Elvis Presley
• Eleanor Powell – American actress and dancer of the 1930s and 1940s, known for her exuberant solo tap dancing
• David Poole – South African ballet dancer and ballet master at Cape Town City Ballet
• Prabhu Deva – Indian dancer and choreographer
• 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 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
• Remo D'Souza – Indian Bollywood choreographer
• Pedro Rascón – Spanish famous dancer
• Raghav Juyal – unique dancer in India, known for croax style, choreographer, dancer

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
• 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
• Lynn Seymour – Canadian ballet dancer
• Sonia Osorio – Ballet de Colombia founder
• Uday Shankar (December 8, 1900 – September 26, 1977) (Bengali: উদয় শংকর) – pioneer of modern dance in India, and a world-renowned Indian dancer and choreographer, was most 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 later popularized in India, Europe, and the United States in the 1920s and 1930s.
• Lisa Steier – Swedish ballerina
• Shiamak Davar – Indian choreographer

T

• Paul Taylor – American choreographer
• Marie Taglioni – Italian ballet dancer
• 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) – great Soviet prima ballerina assoluta

V

• Agrippina Vaganova – founder of Vaganova method
• 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
• Dame Ninette de Valois – founder of the Royal Ballet of London
• Anastasia Volochkova – Russian prima ballerina

W

• Cilli Wang – Austrian-born Dutch dancer, performer and theater maker
• Shawn Welling – American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, founder of Planet Funk Academy and Welling Films, creator of Avengers of eXtreme Illusions

Z

• Maddie Ziegler – American dancer

By occupation in ballet

Theatre directors

Gerald Arpino, Jean Dauberval, Robert de Warren, Sergei Diaghilev, Robert Joffrey, Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Catherine de' Medici, Marie Rambert, Ninette de Valois, Diana Waldron

Choreographers

Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Pierre Beauchamp, Erik Bruhn, John Cranko, Peter Darrell, Deborah Engerman, Mikhail Fokine, William Forsythe, Yury Grigorovich, Lev Ivanovich Ivanov, Rozann Kraus, Serge Lifar, Kenneth MacMillan, Léonide Massine, Sabrina Matthews, Vaslav Nijinsky, Bronislava Nijinska, Jean-Georges Noverre, Rudolf Nureyev, Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa, Roland Petit, Rvijayjha

Jerome Robbins, Filippo Taglioni, Antony Tudor, Ian Steyn du Toit, Robert de Warren,

Dancers

Carlos Acosta, Alicia Alonso, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Michael Beare, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Jeremie Belingard, Jean-Pierre Bonnefous, Ashley Bouder, Ann-Margret, Leslie Caron, Cyd Charisse, Juliet Prowse, Erik Bruhn, Fernando Bujones, Darcey Bussell, Jose Manuel Carreno, Fanny Cerito, Vakhtang Chabukiani, Alina Cojocaru, Angel Corella, Gillian DiAddezio, Anton Dolin, Aurelie Dupont, Irina Dvorovenko, Fanny Elssler, Megan Fairchild, Suzanne Farrell, Alessandra Ferri, Margot Fonteyn, Yekaterina Geltzer, Adeline Genée, Pavel Gerdt, Ailes Gilmour, Jeffrey Golladay Marcelo Gomes, Lucile Grahn, John Grensback, Carlotta Grisi, Fabio Grossi, Sylvie Guillem, Evelyn Hart, Rex Harrington, Melissa Hayden, Paloma Herrera, Laurent Hilaire, Greta Hodgkinson, Rowena Jackson, Charles Jude, Karen Kain, Allegra Kent, Julie Kent, Darci Kistler, Mathilde Kschessinska, Johan Kobborg, Maria Kochetkova, Maria Kowroski, Jennifer Lauren, Pierina Legnani, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Leriche, Lawrence Leritz, Agnes Letestu, Emma Livry, Joaquín De Luz, Vladimir Malakhov, Alicia Markova, José Martínez, Elisabeth Maurin, Patricia McBride, Briely Movric, Gillian Murphy, Kyra Nichols, Peter Naumann, Nadia Nerina, Leon Neshanian, Vaslav Nijinsky, Marianela Nunez, Rudolf Nureyev, Karen Paisey, Anna Pavlova, David Peden, Élisabeth Platel, Maya Plisetskaya, Sergiu Pobereznic, Olga Preobrajenska, Laetitia Pujol, Lloyd Riggins, Rolando Sarabia, Moira Shearer, Yuri Soloviev, Phyllis Spira, Ethan Stiefel, Marian St Claire, Sofiane Sylve, Marie Taglioni, Maria Tallchief, Ludmilla Tchérina, Emmanuel Thibault, Mel Tomlinson, Galina Ulanova, Edward Verso, Michael Vester, Auguste Vestris, Gaetan Vestris, Diana Vishneva, Wendy Whelan, Rosalyn Whitten, Miyako Yoshida, Svetlana Zakharova, Uliana Lopatkina Jennifer Butler Svetlana Zakharova,

Teachers

Thoinot Arbeau, Cyril Atanassoff, George Balanchine, Pierre Beauchamp, Claude Bessy, Carlo Blasis, Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky, August Bournonville, Enrico Cecchetti, Raoul-Auger Feuillet, Elisabeth Gerdt, Frances Henderson, Rosella Hightower, Stanley Holden, Victor Kanevsky (dancer), Gelsey Kirkland, Rozann Kraus David Howard, Attilio Labis, Nicolai Legat, Inga Lujurenko, Sulamith Messerer, Peter Naumann, Valentina Pereyaslavic, Rvijayjha Indian dancing teacher

Jules Perrot, Domenico da Piacenza, Lauren Plutachuvzo, Sergiu Pobereznic, Anna Pavlova, Olga Preobrajenska, Pierre Rameau, Jerome Robbins, olivia Russell Margarita de Saá, Víctor Ullate, Agrippina Vaganova, Auguste Vestris, Vera Volkova, Diana Waldron, Stanley Williams.

Designers and scenographers

Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Christian Bérard, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, John Craxton, Salvador Dalí, André Derain, Barbara Karinska, Barry Kay, Pablo Picasso, Pavel Tchelitchev, Maurice Utrillo

See also

• List of female dancers