Ballet Academy Ventura

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Introducing Eight Ballet Greats

There are many ballet greats, so we have made no attempt to state who is the greatest, but the following dancers have made significant contributions to ballet as a performing art.

Anna Pavlova was a famous 20th century ballet dancer, she was born in St. Petersburg Russia to a poor peasant family. Anna Pavlova was trained in the School of Imperial Ballet where she was admitted at the age of 10 and she trained there till the next 6 years. Pavlova was different in built and style from conventional ballerinas of that time and she changed the image of an ideal ballerina in the minds of the people. While at that time ballerinas were expected to be strong technicians with strong, muscular and compact bodies Pavlova was thin and delicate, her feet extremely arched, suited to the modern pointe shoe.
She strengthened her pointe shoe by adding a piece of leather on the soles and flattening the box of the shoe which at that time was considered cheating but now that is how the modern pointe shoe has taken shape.
Dame Ninette de Valois
Dame Ninette de Valois is accredited as single handedly shaping the European Ballet scene. She started ballet at the age of 10 and quickly gained to fame because of her graceful movements. However her real destiny was to develop talent and she retired at the age of 28. She found the Royal Ballet School and modeled her company after the Imperial Ballet of Russia and promoted a mix of classical and contemporary works.
She had a skill for developing talent and her company had a host of stars like Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann, Moira Shearer, Beryl Grey, Michael Somes, as Svetlana Beriosova, Antoinette Sibley, Nadia Nerina, Lynn Seymour, and, most sensationally Rudolf Nureyev.

Galina Ulanova is considered to be the greatest Russian Ballet dancer to such an extent that her flat in Russia is considered to be a national museum and she has monuments dedicated to her in Saint Petersburgh and Stockholm. She was a ballerina of the Imperial Russian Ballet and joined the Mariinsky Theatre in 1928. Her fame spread soon and when it reached Stalin he had her transferred to the Bolshoi theatre where she played for 16 years.
She was a great actress and dancer and when finally toured abroad at the age of 46 she was considered as the greatest triumph in London after Anna Pavlova. She retired at the age of 50 and coached many generations of Russian Dancers. She won the Lenin or Stalin Prizes in 1941, 1946, 1947, 1950, and 1957
Dame Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margot Fonteyn was born on 18 May 1919 and was considered the world’s greatest ballerina of her time. She was the biggest star of the Royal Ballet and her dancing was known for its lyricism, grace and passion. She was knighted at the age of 35 and was the Chancellor of University of Durham from 1981 to 1990 where the main hall in the student union building is named after her.

Mikhail Baryshnikov was born in 1948 in Russia and joined Leningrad’s Kirov Ballet in 1966; however while traveling to Canada he defected and took political asylum there and later on moved to the United States. He was a brilliant dancer, choreographer and actor and was unique in many ways. His dancing was famed for its text book precision, technical brilliance as well as emotional detachment. He was the principal ballet dancer with the American Ballet Theater from 74 – 79 and after a gap of fifteen months where he joined New York City Ballet he returned to ABT as dancer and principal director and stayed there for a decade. He was artistic director of the White Oak Dance Project, a touring company he co-founded with Mark Morris and was also recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.

Robert Helpmann was born in 1909 in South Australia and wanted to be a dancer right from his childhood. In 1926 he joined the touring dance company of Russian ballerina Pavlova and then in 1933 went to London and joined the Vic Wells Ballet which eventually became the Royal Ballet. Here he was the principal dancer for the next 17 years. Here he formed his hugely successful professional partnership with Margot Fonteyne and together they acted in many roles. The high point in his career was when he visited the United States in 1949 and played the leading role in The Sleeping Beauty. He later turned to production and his most important contribution was to the Australian Ballet which was fledgling at this time and then to produce and direct many successful plays here and orchestrate a turn around.

Rudolf Nureyev was born in Russia in 1938 and was one the most brilliant dancers of the 20th century known for his outstanding technique, brilliant looks and on stage charisma which made his an instant star in the west after he defected from Soviet Union. He formed a hugely successful professional and personal partnership with Margot Fonteyne and together they receive many hysterical curtain ending calls throughout their careers. In 1964 he came to the Vienna State Opera where he was dancer and chief choreographer till 1988. During the 70’s he toured the US where he worked in movies and is regarded as a contributor for reviving the Broadway and the struggling TV series The Muppet Show. In 1982 he was appointed as the director of the Paris Opera Ballet where he groomed a lot of dancers to stardom like Sylvie Guillem, Isabel Guerin, Manuel Legris, Elisabeth Maurin, Elisabeth Platel, Charles Jude, and Monique Loudieres.

Vaslav Nijinsky was born in Kiev in 1890 and was known for his virtuosity and depth of characterization as well for performing the en pointe which was a rare skill for male dancers at the time and performing gravity defying leaps. His first claim to fame came in Paris in 1909 where he shared a lead role with Pavlov. He worked in many shows choreographed by Michael Fokine and the company became widely successful and he a well known star. He also choreographed and created revolutionary movements moving away from the flowing movements of the traditional mainstream ballet.