Feb 20 2008

Glossary

Published by admin

Ranks for ballerinas in the Russian Imperial Ballet

  • prima ballerina assoluta – highest rank given a female ballet dancer
  • prima ballerina – the leading female dancer in a ballet company.
  • ballerina
  • premiere danseuse
  • soloist
  • coryphée
  • corps de ballet

There were only two prime ballerina assolutas in Imperial Russia – Pierina Legnani and Mathilde Kschessinska. And there were  two prime ballerina assolutas in the Soviet Union – Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya.  Outside of this country other persons were awarded the title of assoluta including Alicia Alonso from Cuba and Margot Fonteyn from England.

Outstanding Ballet Masters

  • Jean-Baptiste Landé (d. 1748) Ballet master in Russia, he is known as the parent of the Russian Mariinsky Ballet.
  • Louis Gallodier (1734-1803) Ballet master in Sweden, he is known as the parent of the Royal Swedish Ballet.
  • Jean Dauberval (1742-1806) Ballet master in France, he is known today as the Father of the Comedic ballet
  • August Bournonville (1805-1879) Ballet master of the Royal Danish Ballet from 1828 to 1879 and the most prolific choreographer Denmark has ever known.
  • Jean Coralli (1779-1854) Ballet master of the Ballet du Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique who was born Jean Coralli Perecini in Paris of Bolognese parents.
  • Filippo Taglioni (1777-1871) Ballet master of Stockholm from 1803. Born and trained as a dancer in his native Italy, he is known today as the Father of Romantic Ballet. Also a great choreographer and teacher, he was instrumental in the training of his daughter, Marie Taglioni.
  • Carlo Blasis (1797-1878), Ballet master, work named Traité élémentaire, théorique, et pratique de l’art de la danse (“Elementary Treaty on the Art of the Dance, theory and practice”).
  • Jules Perrot (1810-1892) Maître de Ballet en Chef (First Ballet master) of the Ballet of Her Majesty’s Theatre from 1843-1848. Maître de Ballet en Chef to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1849 to 1859.
  • Paul Taglioni (1808-1883) Second ballet master of the Ballet of Her Majesty’s Theatre from 1847-1848, Maître de Ballet en Chef from 1849-1851. Maître de Ballet en Chef of the Court Opera Ballet in Berlin from 1852-1866.
  • Arthur Saint-Léon (1821-1870) A Frenchman who was Maître de Ballet en Chef of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1859 until 1869.
  • Marius Petipa (1818-1910) Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1871 to 1903, Second Ballet master from 1862-1871. The Father of Classical Ballet.
  • Lev Ivanov (1834-1901) Second ballet master of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1885 to 1901.
  • Christian Johansson (1817-1903) Coaching ballet master/master teacher for the Russian Imperial Ballet 1880 to 1900, particuklarly of the male students.
  • Enrico Cecchetti (1850-1928) Ballet master for the celebrated Ballets Russes 1907.
  • Nicolai Legat (1869 – 1937), Ballet master who preserved and passed the legacy and repertoire of Marius Petipa.
  • Michel Fokine (1880-1942), Ballet master, choreographer of his Ballets Russes in Paris.
  • Frederick Ashton (1904-1988) Ballet master, Choreographer, and Director of England’s Royal Ballet 1963.
  • Alexander Ivanovich Pushkin (1907-1970), Ballet master, Among his famous students were Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev and Farouk Ruzimatov.
  • Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992) Ballet master, Choreographer, and Director of England’s Royal Ballet from 1970.
  • George Balanchine (1904-1983) Ballet master and Director of the New York City Ballet, in New York from 1949 to 1982.
  • María de Ávila (1920- ), Ballet master, was the creator of the Ballet de Zaragoza.
  • Vera Shvetsova (1929- ), Ballet master in State School of Ballet and Choreography of Minsk (Belarus)
  • Rudolph Nureyev (1938-1993), Ballet master and Director of the Paris Opera Ballet, Paris from 1983 to 1992. Before that, he enjoyed an illustrious career as a dancer in both the Soviet Union and in the west.
  • Agrippina Vaganova (1879-1951), An outstanding Ballet master who developed the famous Vaganova method.
  • Anthony Dowell (1943- ) Ballet master and Director of England’s Royal Ballet from 1980.

No responses yet

Comments are closed at this time.

Trackback URI |