DANCERS from Australia

Top 2

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

1. Robert Helpmann (1909 - 1986)

With an HPI of 41.68, Robert Helpmann is the most famous Australian Dancer.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages on wikipedia.

Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE (né Helpman, 9 April 1909 – 28 September 1986) was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director, and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet (now The Royal Ballet) under its creator, Ninette de Valois. He became one of the company's leading men, partnering Alicia Markova and later Margot Fonteyn. When Frederick Ashton, the company's chief choreographer, was called up for military service in the Second World War, Helpmann took over from him while continuing as a principal dancer. Helpmann, from the outset of his career was an actor as well as a dancer, and in the 1940s he turned increasingly to acting in plays, at the Old Vic and in the West End. Most of his roles were in Shakespeare plays but he also appeared in works by Shaw, Coward, Sartre and others. As a director his range was wide, from Shakespeare to opera, musicals and pantomime. Helpmann became co-director of the Australian Ballet, in 1965, for whom he created several new ballets. He became sole director in 1975 but disagreements with the company's board led to his dismissal a year later. He directed for Australian Opera and acted in stage plays into the 1980s. Although primarily a stage artist, he appeared in fifteen films between 1942 (One of Our Aircraft is Missing) and 1984 (Second Time Lucky), including The Red Shoes, The Tales of Hoffmann, a film version of Igor Stravinsky's ballet-drama The Soldier's Tale ("L'Histoire du soldat") in which Helpmann played the Devil, and the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Helpmann died in Sydney and was given a state funeral in St Andrew's Cathedral. The Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, gave a tribute in the Parliament of Australia, and a motion of condolence was passed – a rare tribute for a non-politician. Helpmann is commemorated in the Helpmann Awards for Australian performing arts, established in his honour in 2001.

2. Wade Robson (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 32.64, Wade Robson is the 2nd most famous Australian Dancer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Wade Jeremy William Robson (born 17 September 1982) is an Australian dancer and choreographer. He began performing as a dancer at age five, and has directed music videos and world tours for pop acts such as NSYNC and Britney Spears. Robson was the host and executive producer of The Wade Robson Project, which aired on MTV in 2003. In 2007, he joined the Fox television dance series So You Think You Can Dance as a guest judge and choreographer. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for the dance number "Ramalama (Bang Bang)" of So You Think You Can Dance. When Robson was a child, he was befriended by the pop singer Michael Jackson. In 1993, when Jackson was first accused of child sexual abuse, Robson, aged 10, told police that nothing sexual had happened between them. In 2005, during Jackson's trial, Robson stated under oath that Jackson had never behaved inappropriately. However, in 2013, Robson reversed his position and filed a late creditor claim and a civil lawsuit against the Jackson estate, saying that Jackson had abused him from 1990 to 1997, when Robson was aged between seven and 14. His case is currently before a California court as Robson v. MJJ Productions. He detailed his allegations in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland.