Principal dancer

A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company.

Sarah Lamb, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London.

A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of soloist; however, principals regularly perform not only solos, but also pas de deux. Principal dancers can be hired into a dance company or can also be a company dancer that is a corps de ballet dancer that gets promoted from within the company. That process can take multiple performance seasons or even years to achieve based on skill level and company interest. It is a coveted position in the company and the most prominent position a dancer can receive. The term is used mostly in ballet but can be used in other forms as well, such as modern dance. They are usually the star of the ballet. The term senior principal dancer is sometimes used as well.[1]

Synonyms and origin

The Italian derived term prima ballerina (female dancers) (primo ballerino for male dancers) or the French derived term[2] premier danseur (male dancers) have been used to denote similar levels of prominence in non Anglo-Saxon companies. In the Paris Opera Ballet, principal dancers receive the title of Danseur Étoile.

Current principal dancers

Royal Ballet

Matthew Ball, Federico Bonelli, Alexander Campbell, Cesar Corrales, Lauren Cuthbertson, Francesca Hayward, Ryoichi Hirano, Fumi Kaneko, Sarah Lamb, Mayara Magri, Steven McRae, Vadim Muntagirov, Yasmine Naghdi, Marianela Nuñez, Natalia Osipova, Anna Rose O’Sullivan, Marcelino Sambé, Akane Takada

Current principal dancers

American Ballet Theatre

Martha Graham Modern Dance Company
  • Lloyd Knight
  • Ben Schultz

Miami City Ballet[3]
  • Alexander Peters
  • Ashley Knox
  • Jennifer Lauren
  • Katia Carranza
  • Nathalia Arja
  • Renan Cerdeiro
  • Stanislav Olshanskyi
  • Steven Loch
  • Yuliia Moskalenko
  • Tricia Albertson
  • Chase Swatosh
  • Dawn Atkins
  • Hannah Fischer
  • Samantha Hope Galler
  • Shimon Ito

New York City Ballet[4]
  • Jared Angle
  • Tyler Angle
  • Harrison Ball
  • Ashley Bouder
  • Chun Wai Chan
  • Adrian Danchig-Waring
  • Megan Fairchild
  • Jovani Furlan
  • Joseph Gordon
  • Anthony Huxley
  • Russell Janzen
  • Sara Mearns
  • Tiler Peck
  • Unity Phelan
  • Taylor Stanley
  • Daniel Ulbricht
  • Andrew Veyette
  • Peter Walker
  • Indiana Woodward

Bolshoi Ballet Company
  • Alyona Kovalyova
  • Ekaterina Krysanova
  • Anna Nikulina
  • Evgenia Obraztsova
  • Eleonora Sevenard
  • Anastasia Stashkevich
  • Yulia Stepanova
  • Svetlana Zakharova
  • Artemy Belyakov
  • Vladislav Lantratov
  • Artem Ovcharenko
  • Igor Tsvirko
  • Semyon Chudin
  • Mikhail Lobukhin
  • Denis Rodkin
  • Egor Gerashchenko
  • Vyacheslav Lopatin
  • Denis Savin

References
  1. "Senior Principal dancer". English National Ballet. Archived from the original on March 17, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
  2. "the definition of danseur noble". www.dictionary.com. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  3. "Meet our Dancers". Miami City Ballet. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  4. "Meet our Dancers | New York City Ballet". www.nycballet.com. Retrieved 2023-03-08.


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