Gelsey Kirkland is an American ballerina. She received early ballet training at the School of American Ballet. Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age 15, at the invitation of George Balanchine. She was promoted to soloist in 1969, and principal in 1972. She went on to create leading roles in many of the great twentieth century ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor, including Balanchine's revival of The Firebird, Robbins' Goldberg Variations, and Tudor's The Leaves are Fading.
Natalia Romanovna Makarova is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that "her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation in the West."
Altynai Abduakhimkyzy Asylmuratova is a Kazakh-born former ballerina who is artistic director of the ballet company at Astana Opera. She is a former prima ballerina with the Kirov Ballet and a guest artist all over the world.
Katherine Healy is an American former principal ballerina and actress who also had a professional performing career in figure skating.
Gillian Murphy is an American ballet dancer who is a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.
Sara Webb is an American retired professional ballet dancer and a former principal dancer with the Houston Ballet (1997–2018).
Ambra Vallo is an Italian classical ballet dancer. Born in Naples, Italy, she was a principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Sarah Van Patten is an American ballet dancer. She began an apprenticeship at the Royal Danish Ballet at age 15. In 2001, at age 17, she became the youngest ever dancer to receive a contract at the company. Later that year, she joined the San Francisco Ballet as a soloist, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2007. She retired from ballet in 2022.
Vanessa Andrea Zahorian is an American retired ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet. She is currently one of the artistic directors of Pennsylvania Ballet Academy.
Molly Smolen is an American ballet dancer.
Natalia Petrovna Osipova is a Russian ballerina, currently a principal ballerina with The Royal Ballet in London.
Ji-young Kim is a South Korean prima ballerina and is currently a principal dancer with the Korea National Ballet (KNB) in Seoul, South Korea.
Ekaterina Valerievna Krysanova is a Russian principal dancer of Bolshoi Ballet.
Olga Esina is a Russian ballerina who was educated at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2010 she became First Solo Dancer at the Vienna State Ballet.
Jurgita Dronina is a Russian-Lithuanian ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, having previously danced with Royal Swedish Ballet, Dutch National Ballet and English National Ballet.
Claire Louise Calvert is an English ballet dancer and is a first soloist at the Royal Ballet.
Anna Rose O'Sullivan is an English ballet dancer and is a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet. Her promotion to principal dancer took effect in September 2021.
Petra Conti is an Italian prima ballerina. She is a former principal dancer with Los Angeles Ballet, the Boston Ballet and La Scala Theatre Ballet. She is now the artistic director of her own ballet company, Hollywood Ballet.
Elisa Badenes is a Spanish ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer at the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany.
Anna Ol is a Russian ballet dancer. Principal dancer of Het Nationale Ballet (Amsterdam).
