DANCERS from Ukraine

Top 7

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Ukrainian Dancers of all time. This list of famous Ukrainian Dancers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.

1. Vaslav Nijinsky (1889 - 1950)

With an HPI of 75.42, Vaslav Nijinsky is the most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  His biography has been translated into 54 different languages on wikipedia.

Vaslav or Vatslav Nijinsky (12 March 1889/1890 – 8 April 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry. He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. He is often associated with the Ballets Russes and its impresario Sergei Diaghilev, for which he choreographed such influential ballets as L'après-midi d'un faune (1912), Le Sacre du Printemps (1913), Jeux (1913), and Till Eulenspiegel (1916). He was celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could dance en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time, and was admired for his seemingly gravity-defying leaps.

2. Serge Lifar (1904 - 1986)

With an HPI of 67.04, Serge Lifar is the 2nd most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Serge Lifar (Ukrainian: Сергій Михайлович Лифар, Serhіy Mуkhailovуch Lуfar) (20 March [O.S. 2 April] 1905 – 15 December 1986) was a Ukrainian dancer. Lifar was also a choreographer, director, writer, theoretician about dance, and collector. As ballet master of the Paris Opera from 1930 to 1944, and from 1947 to 1958, he devoted himself to the restoration of the technical level of the Paris Opera Ballet, returning it to its place as one of the best companies in the world.

3. Olga Khokhlova (1891 - 1955)

With an HPI of 64.92, Olga Khokhlova is the 3rd most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Olga Picasso (born Olga Stepanovna Khokhlova; Russian: Ольга Степановна Хохлова; 17 June 1891 – 11 February 1955) was a Russian ballet dancer in the Ballets Russes, directed by Sergei Diaghilev and based in Paris. There she met and married the artist Pablo Picasso, served as one of his early muses, and was the mother of their son, Paul (Paulo).

4. Natalia Dudinskaya (1912 - 2003)

With an HPI of 54.92, Natalia Dudinskaya is the 4th most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya (21 August [O.S. 8 August] 1912 – 29 January 2003) was a Soviet prima ballerina who dominated the Kirov Ballet from the 1930s to the 1950s. Dudinskaya was born on 21 August [O.S. 8 August] 1912, in Kharkiv. Her mother was Natalia Taliori, a Ukrainian and Russian ballerina who had been coached by Enrico Cecchetti. Trained by Agrippina Vaganova, Dudinskaya matriculated from her school in 1931. She danced all the classical leads at the Kirov Theatre including the starring role in Cinderella. She later originated leading roles in Boris Asafyev's Flames of Paris and Taras Bulba. She was best known in La Bayadère, Don Quixote and in the title role of the eponymous Laurencia, which she originated. She was frequently partnered by her husband, Konstantin Sergeyev, famed Georgian dancer Vakhtang Chabukiani and, at the end of her career, a 21-year-old Rudolf Nureyev who she picked to partner her in Laurencia. Frail health forced her to retire in 1961. She did, however dance in her husband's 1964 film version of Sleeping Beauty in the role of Carabosse. During her career, she received a total of four Stalin Prizes. In 1957 she was named a People's Artist of the USSR. Upon her retirement, Dudinskaya became the ballet mistress of the Kirov Ballet and one of the most famed teachers at the Vaganova Institute. After Nureyev's defection to the West in 1961, she and her husband, Konstantin Sergeyev, were subjected to reprimands from Soviet officials. They ultimately lost their company positions after the defection of Natalia Makarova in 1970 but Dudinskaya continued to teach up and coming dancers. Anastasia Volochkova and Ulyana Lopatkina were among the last ballerinas coached by her. Dudinskaya also helped her husband stage his productions of Russian classics outside Russia, turning up at the Boston Ballet, for example, in the 1980s and 1990s to work on Giselle, Swan Lake, La Bayadère and Le Corsaire. She died in Saint Petersburg on 29 January 2003 at the age of 90.

5. Svetlana Zakharova (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 52.51, Svetlana Zakharova is the 5th most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  Her biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Svetlana Yuryevna Zakharova (Ukrainian: Світлана Юріївна Захарова, Russian: Светлана Юрьевна Захарова; born 10 June 1979) is a Ukrainian-born prima ballerina who dances with the Bolshoi Ballet and is acting rector of the Moscow State Academy of Choreography.

6. Sergei Polunin (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 45.87, Sergei Polunin is the 6th most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Sergei Vladimirovich Polunin (Russian: Сергей Владимирович Полунин; Ukrainian: Сергій Володимирович Полунін, romanized: Serhiy Volodymyrovych Polunin; born 20 November 1989) is a Ukrainian ballet dancer, actor and model. He has Ukrainian, Russian, and Serbian citizenships, but has "always regarded himself as Russian". Born in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR, Polunin started out in gymnastics before switching to ballet at the age of eight and attended the Kyiv State Choreographic College. After graduating, he joined the British Royal Ballet School at the age of 13 in 2003. Polunin has received numerous awards, including the Prix de Lausanne and Youth America Grand Prix in 2006, and in 2007 was named the Young British Dancer of the Year. In 2010, at the age of 20, Polunin became the Royal Ballet's youngest ever male principal dancer. After two years, he quit the ballet company to focus on a freelance career. As a freelance principal dancer, Polunin has been a guest artist at various theatres worldwide such as Royal Opera House, Sadler's Wells Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre, Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, La Scala Theatre, Teatro San Carlo and was a guest artist for the Bayerisches Staatsballet.

7. Masha Dashkina Maddux (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 32.23, Masha Dashkina Maddux is the 7th most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Mariya "Masha" Dashkina Maddux is a Ukrainian modern dancer and dance teacher. She is a former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company and is the founder and director of the Wake Forest Dance Festival.