PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: dance
Russian composer
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the most popular Russian composer of all time. His music has always had great appeal for the general public in virtue of its tuneful, open-hearted melodies, impressive harmonies,...
Italian composer and musician
Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer in the late Renaissance, the most important developer of the then new genre, the opera. He also did much to bring a “modern” secular spirit into church music. Monteverdi,...
Russian composer
Igor Stravinsky, Russian-born composer whose work had a revolutionary impact on musical thought and sensibility just before and after World War I, and whose compositions remained a touchstone of modernism...
Russian composer
Sergey Prokofiev, 20th-century Russian (and Soviet) composer who wrote in a wide range of musical genres, including symphonies, concerti, film music, operas, ballets, and program pieces. Prokofiev (Prokofjev...
French composer
Claude Debussy, French composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects...
American dancer
Martha Graham, influential American dancer, teacher, and choreographer of modern dance whose ballets and other works were intended to “reveal the inner man.” Over more than 50 years she created more than...
American dancer and film director
Herbert Ross, American dancer and film director who made a significant contribution to the world of dance as a choreographer for ballet companies, the stage, and motion pictures before turning to directing...
Hungarian composer
Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and teacher, noted for the Hungarian flavour of his major musical works, which include orchestral works, string quartets, piano solos, several...
Russian composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer, renowned particularly for his 15 symphonies, numerous chamber works, and concerti, many of them written under the pressures of government-imposed standards of Soviet...
French composer
Maurice Ravel, French composer of Swiss-Basque descent, noted for his musical craftsmanship and perfection of form and style in such works as Boléro (1928), Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899; Pavane...
Russian ballet impresario
Serge Diaghilev, Russian promoter of the arts who revitalized ballet by integrating the ideals of other art forms—music, painting, and drama—with those of the dance. From 1906 he lived in Paris, where...
Russian-American choreographer
George Balanchine, most influential choreographer of classical ballet in the United States in the 20th century. His works, characterized by a cool neoclassicism, include The Nutcracker (1954) and Don Quixote...
American dancer
Isadora Duncan, American dancer whose teaching and performances helped to free ballet from its conservative restrictions and presaged the development of modern expressive dance. She was among the first...
Russian ballerina
Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina, the most-celebrated dancer of her time. Pavlova studied at the Imperial School of Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre from 1891, joined the Imperial Ballet in 1899, and became...
Russian artist
Léon Bakst, Jewish Russian artist who revolutionized theatrical design both in scenery and in costume. His designs for the Ballets Russes, especially during its heyday (1909–14), were opulent, innovative,...
American composer
Aaron Copland, American composer who achieved a distinctive musical characterization of American themes in an expressive modern style. Copland, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, was born in New York...
Russian dancer and choreographer
Michel Fokine, dancer and choreographer who profoundly influenced the 20th-century classical ballet repertoire. In 1905 he composed the solo The Dying Swan for the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. As chief...
Russian dancer
Vaslav Nijinsky, Russian-born ballet dancer of almost legendary fame, celebrated for his spectacular leaps and sensitive interpretations. After a brilliant school career, Nijinsky became a soloist at the...
American choreographer
Jerome Robbins, one of the most popular and imaginative American choreographers of the 20th century. Robbins was first known for his skillful use of contemporary American themes in ballets and Broadway...
American actress
Shirley MacLaine, outspoken American actress and dancer known for her deft portrayals of charmingly eccentric characters and for her interest in mysticism and reincarnation. Beaty’s mother was a drama...
Indian dancer and singer
T. Balasaraswati, Indian dancer and singer in the Karnatak (South Indian) tradition, who was one of the 20th century’s foremost exponents of the bharata natyam style of classical dance. She was instrumental...
French composer
Erik Satie, French composer whose spare, unconventional, often witty style exerted a major influence on 20th-century music, particularly in France. Satie studied at the Paris Conservatory, dropped out,...
American dancer
Doris Humphrey, pioneer in American modern dance and an innovator in technique, choreography, and theory of dance movement. Humphrey was an avid and talented student of dance from an early age. In 1917,...
French author
Théophile Gautier, poet, novelist, critic, and journalist whose influence was strongly felt in the period of changing sensibilities in French literature—from the early Romantic period to the aestheticism...
American musician
Tommy Dorsey, American musician who—both independently and with his brother Jimmy—led several of the most popular big bands of the swing era. He was also a highly respected and influential trombonist....
French dancer and choreographer
Jules Perrot, French virtuoso dancer and master choreographer who was celebrated internationally for creating some of the most enduring ballets of the Romantic period. Jules Perrot first drew attention...
French composer
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French court and operatic composer who from 1662 completely controlled French court music and whose style of composition was imitated throughout Europe. Born of Italian...
American choreographer and dancer
Anna Sokolow, American dancer, choreographer, and teacher noted for her socially and politically conscious works and her unique blend of dance and theatre choreography. She is also recognized for her instrumental...
American musician
Jimmy Dorsey , American musician who—both independently and with his brother Tommy—led one of the most popular big bands of the swing era. He was also a highly talented saxophone and clarinet player. Along...
American dancer
Ruth St. Denis, American contemporary dance innovator who influenced almost every phase of American dance. From an early age Ruth Dennis displayed a marked interest in the theatre and especially in dance....
Russian ballerina
Agrippina Vaganova, Russian ballerina and teacher who developed a technique and system of instruction based on the classical style of the Imperial Russian Ballet but which also incorporated aspects of...
American dancer
Michael Flatley, American dancer who transformed traditional Irish dancing into a popular spectator attraction. Flatley, whose grandmother was a champion Irish dancer, began taking dancing lessons at age...
French dancer and musician
Arthur Saint-Léon, French dancer, choreographer, violinist, and inventor of a method of dance notation, celebrated as the choreographer of the ballet Coppélia. The son of Léon Michel, a dancer who had...
American dancer and choreographer
Merce Cunningham, American modern dancer and choreographer who developed new forms of abstract dance movement. Cunningham began to study dance at 12 years of age. After high school he attended the Cornish...
American dancer
Glen Tetley, American dancer, choreographer, and ballet director, whose performances and compositions integrated elements of modern dance and classical ballet. Tetley began his dance career relatively...
American performance artist and author
Laurie Anderson, American performance artist, composer, and writer whose work explores a remarkable range of media and subject matter. Anderson began studying classical violin at five years of age and...
Russian dancer
Léonide Massine, Russian dancer and innovative choreographer of more than 50 ballets, one of the most important figures in 20th-century dance. Massine studied acting and dancing at the Imperial School...
Danish choreographer
Lucile Grahn, ballerina, ballet mistress, and choreographer who was the first Danish ballerina to attain international renown. Grahn received her training at the Royal Danish Theatre School in Copenhagen,...
Italian dancer
Fanny Cerrito, ballerina noted for the brilliance, strength, and vivacity of her dancing, and one of the few women in the 19th century to achieve distinction as a choreographer. The daughter of an officer...
Italian dancer
Carlotta Grisi, Italian ballerina of the Romantic era who was a muse to the choreographer and dancer Jules Perrot and to the poet Théophile Gautier; she created the title role in Giselle. A cousin of the...
French dancer
Jean Coralli, French dancer and choreographer who was ballet master of the Paris Opéra and who, with Jules Perrot, created the Romantic ballet Giselle. Coralli received his early training in Paris from...
British dancer
Dame Adeline Genée, dancer, choreographer, and teacher who was founder-president of the Royal Academy of Dancing. The daughter of a farmer, Anina Jensen was adopted at age eight by her uncle, Alexander...
American choreographer
Trisha Brown, American dancer and choreographer whose avant-garde and postmodernist work explores and experiments in pure movement, with and without the accompaniments of music and traditional theatrical...
Russian-American dancer
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Soviet-born American actor and ballet dancer who was the preeminent male classical dancer of the 1970s and ’80s. He subsequently became a noted dance director. The son of Russian parents...
Russian dancer and choreographer
Alexei Ratmansky, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer known for his exceptional musicality, seemingly limitless energy, and stylistic versatility. As artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet (2004–08),...
French dancer
Sylvie Guillem, French ballet dancer who in 1984 became the youngest person in the history of the Paris Opéra Ballet at that time to hold the rank of étoile (“star”), traditionally the highest position...
Soviet-born dancer
Rudolf Nureyev, Soviet-born ballet dancer whose suspended leaps and fast turns were often compared to Vaslav Nijinsky’s legendary feats. He was a flamboyant performer and a charismatic celebrity who revived...
American dance patron, writer, and businessman
Lincoln Kirstein, American dance authority, impresario, writer, and businessman who collaborated with George Balanchine to found and direct the various ballet companies that eventually became the world-renowned...
Swedish-Russian dancer
Christian Johansson, Swedish-born ballet dancer and principal teacher at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, who made a fundamental contribution to the development of the Russian style of classical...
American dancer and actress
Anne Jane Hartley Gilbert, American dancer and actress, popular on the 19th-century stage for her character roles. Anne Hartley grew up in London. At age 12 she began studying dance in the ballet school...