The Most Famous

DANCERS from Ukraine

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This page contains a list of the greatest Ukrainian Dancers. The pantheon dataset contains 116 Dancers, 5 of which were born in Ukraine. This makes Ukraine the birth place of the 7th most number of Dancers behind India, and United Kingdom.

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.

Photo of Vaslav Nijinsky

1. Vaslav Nijinsky (1889 - 1950)

With an HPI of 70.40, Vaslav Nijinsky is the most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  His biography has been translated into 54 different languages on wikipedia.

Vaslav or Vatslav Nijinsky (; Russian: Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, romanized: Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, IPA: [ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj]; Polish: Wacław Niżyński, IPA: [ˈvatswaf ɲiˈʐɨj̃skʲi]; 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. Nijinsky 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. He was introduced to dance by his parents, who were senior dancers with the travelling Setov opera company, and his early childhood was spent touring with the company. His elder brother, Stanislav, and younger sister, Bronislava Nijinska, known to intimates as Bronia, also became dancers; Bronia also became a choreographer, working closely with him for much of his career. At age nine, Nijinsky was accepted at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, the pre-eminent ballet school in the world. In 1907, he graduated and became a member of the Imperial Ballet, starting in the rank of coryphée instead of in the corps de ballet, and already taking starring roles. In 1909, he joined the Ballets Russes, a new ballet company started by Sergei Diaghilev. The impresario took the Russian ballets to Paris, where high-quality productions such as those of the Imperial Ballet were not known. Nijinsky became the company's star male dancer, causing an enormous stir amongst audiences whenever he performed. In ordinary life, he appeared unremarkable and was withdrawn in conversation. Diaghilev and Nijinsky became lovers; the Ballets Russes gave Nijinsky the chance to expand his art and experiment with dance and choreography; he created new directions for male dancers while becoming internationally famous. In 1912, Nijinsky began choreographing original ballets, including L'après-midi d'un faune (1912) to music by Claude Debussy, Le Sacre du Printemps (1913) to music by Igor Stravinsky, Jeux (1913), and Till Eulenspiegel (1916). Faune, considered one of the first modern ballets, caused controversy because of its sexually suggestive final scene. At the premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps, fights broke out in the audience between those who loved and hated this startling new style of ballet and music. Nijinsky originally conceived Jeux as a flirtatious interaction among three males, although Diaghilev insisted it be danced by one male and two females. In 1913, Nijinsky married Hungarian Romola de Pulszky while on tour with the company in South America. The marriage caused a break with Diaghilev, who soon dismissed Nijinsky from the company. The couple had two daughters together, Kyra and Tamara Nijinska. With no alternative employer available, Nijinsky tried to form his own company, but this was not a success. He was interned in Budapest, Hungary, during World War I, under house arrest until 1916. After intervention by Diaghilev and several international leaders, he was allowed to go to New York for an American tour with the Ballets Russes. Nijinsky became increasingly mentally unstable with the stresses of having to manage tours himself and deprived of opportunities to dance. After a tour of South America in 1917, and due to travel difficulties imposed by the war, the family settled in St. Moritz, Switzerland. His mental condition deteriorated; he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1919 and committed to a mental asylum. For the next 30 years, he was in and out of institutions, never dancing in public again.

Photo of Serge Lifar

2. Serge Lifar (1904 - 1986)

With an HPI of 60.19, Serge Lifar is the 2nd most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Serge Lifar (Ukrainian: Сергій Михайлович Лифар, Serhіy Mуkhailovуch Lуfar) (15 April [O.S. 2 April] 1905 – 15 December 1986) was a Ukrainian dancer, choreographer, and one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century. 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.

Photo of Olga Khokhlova

3. Olga Khokhlova (1891 - 1955)

With an HPI of 58.80, Olga Khokhlova is the 3rd most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  Her biography has been translated into 23 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).

Photo of Natalia Dudinskaya

4. Natalia Dudinskaya (1912 - 2003)

With an HPI of 47.32, 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.

Photo of Svetlana Zakharova

5. Svetlana Zakharova (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 45.30, Svetlana Zakharova is the 5th most famous Ukrainian Dancer.  Her biography has been translated into 30 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 an étoile of the La Scala Theatre Ballet.

Photo of Sergei Polunin

6. Sergei Polunin (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 38.68, 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 Institute. 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.

Photo of Masha Dashkina Maddux

7. Masha Dashkina Maddux (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 19.40, 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.

People

Pantheon has 7 people classified as Ukrainian dancers born between 1889 and 1989. Of these 7, 3 (42.86%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Ukrainian dancers include Svetlana Zakharova, Sergei Polunin, and Masha Dashkina Maddux. The most famous deceased Ukrainian dancers include Vaslav Nijinsky, Serge Lifar, and Olga Khokhlova. As of April 2024, 2 new Ukrainian dancers have been added to Pantheon including Natalia Dudinskaya, and Masha Dashkina Maddux.

Living Ukrainian Dancers

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Deceased Ukrainian Dancers

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Newly Added Ukrainian Dancers (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Dancers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 4 most globally memorable Dancers since 1700.