Active Years: 1895-1958
Position: American choreographer
Career Highlights: Though Martha Graham may have exposed modern dance to a wider audience, it was Humphrey who laid the foundation of movement and solidified modern dance as an art form. Her most enduring works are Water Study (1928), The Shakers (1931), and Day on Earth(1947).
Career Totals: Humphrey’s theories and ideas [...]

Active Years: 1946 -
Position: American tap dancer and choreographer
Career Highlights: Hines won the Tony Award for best actor in Jelly’s Last Jam in 1992. He was also nominated for best choreography.
Career Totals: Hines began tap dancing at age 5 and has appeared in commercials, movies and Broadway shows. He has been nominated for the [...]

Active Years: 1894-1991
Position: American dancer and choreographer, founder of  modern dance
Career Highlights: The 1940s were Graham’s most productive years. She created Letter to the World(1940), based on the life of Emily Dickinson, Deaths and Entrances (1943), Dark Meadow (1946), and Cave of the Heart(1946). She is best known for Appalachian Spring, created in 1944, which [...]

Active Years: 1927-1987
Position: American choreographer and director for Broadway, television, film
Career Highlights: Fosse is the only director to win an Emmy, a Tony and an Oscar in one year — in 1973, he won an Emmy for the television special “Liza with a Z,” two Tony awards for “Pippin,” and an Academy Award for “Cabaret.”
Career [...]

Active Years: 1919-1991
Position: Prima ballerina for the Royal Ballet
Career Highlights: On the verge of retiring, Fonteyn invited Rudolph Nureyev to dance with her in London. Their performance of Giselle was spellbinding and began the greatest dance partnership in the history of ballet.
Career Totals: Fonteyn began her career with the Vic-Wells Ballet (later to become [...]

Active Years: 1945 -
Position: American ballerina
Career Highlights: Farrell was considered the ideal Balanchine dancer. He created many roles for her, calling her the alabaster princess. Critics praised her for her impeccable technique and she was admired for her grace and stamina.
Career Totals: Though she spent most of her career dancing for the New York City [...]

Active Years: 1878-1927
Position: American dancer and choreographer.
Career Highlights: Duncan’s first major piece and the one which laid out many of the principles she would espouse during the rest of her career was called The Dance of the Future. The dance-lecture piece won wide popularity and launched her career.
Career Totals: One of Duncan’s first ballets was [...]

Active Years: 1943-Present
Position: Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet
Career Highlights: The role of Oberon in Frederick Ashton’s The Dream was created for him in 1964. Some other memorable roles include Des Grieux and later Lescaut in Manon; Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake; Romeo in Romeo and Juliet; and the Prince and later Carabosse in The [...]

Active Years: 1872-1929
Position: Creator of the Ballet Russe
Career Highlights: Diaghilev introduced Russian Ballet to the Western World and made his company, Ballet Russe, one of the most popular dance companies ever.
Career Totals: For twenty years, the Ballet Russe dominated the dance world.
Scouting Report: In 1890, Diaghilev studied law in St. Petersburg, but found the artistic [...]

Active Years: 1905-1993
Position: Dancer and choreographer for the theater and ballet
Career Highlights: Before revolutionizing the musical dance world with her choreography for Oklahoma!, de Mille created Rodeo(1942). Both captured the American spirit incorporating ballet with a folk dance style.
Career Totals: de Mille worked for American Ballet Theatre, founded her own dance group, and choreographed [...]