Ballerina

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See also: Category:Ballerinas, Category:Prima ballerinas, Category:Prima ballerina assolutas, and Category:Danseurs

Pierina Legnani (left) — the first ballerina ever to be titled as Prima ballerina assoluta — with the Prima ballerina Olga Preobrajenskaya (right). They are costumed for the roles of Medora and Gulnare in the scene Le jardin animé from Marius Petipa's final revival of Le Corsaire for the Imperial Ballet. St. Petersburg, 1899.

A ballerina (Italian for female dancer) is a female ballet dancer; the male equivalent to this title is danseur or ballerino.

Although the term ballerina is used for any female ballet dancer, it was originally a rank given to an exceptional female soloist in 19th century ballet. The rankings for women, from highest to lowest, were:

Prima ballerina assoluta
Prima ballerina; a.k.a. première sujet or première danseuse
Sujet
Coryphée
Corps de ballet

For men, the ranks were:

Premier danseur noble
Premier danseur
Sujet
Coryphée
Corps de ballet

[edit] Prima ballerina assoluta

The rank of Prima ballerina assoluta — a rank rarely bestowed — was originally inspired by the Italian balletmasters of the early Romantic Ballet for an exceptional ballerina. It was the renowned French balletmaster Marius Petipa who first designated Prima ballerina assoluta an official title when in 1894 he declared the Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani to be the supreme danseuse in all of Europe. Legnani performed with the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet from 1893 until 1901.

The second ballerina to be given the title was Legnani's contemporary Mathilde Kschessinskaya. Petipa, however, did not agree that she should hold such a title; although an extraordinary ballerina, she obtained the title primarily via Imperial prestige.

The only two ballerinas to hold the title Prima ballerina assoluta in the Soviet Union were Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya. Other dancers awarded the title include Alicia Alonso from Cuba and Dame Alicia Markova and Dame Margot Fonteyn from England. To date no American ballerina has ever held the rank of Prima ballerina assoluta; Rudolf Nureyev considered the ballerina Cynthia Gregory to be the only American ballerina deserving of such a title. Another not to hold the title is the great Anna Pavlova, probably the best known ballerina in history.