A ballerina is a female ballet dancer; the male equivalent to this title is danseur.
Although the term ballerina is used for any female ballet dancer, it was originally a rank given to an exceptional female soloist in 19th century ballet.
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The rank of Prima ballerina assoluta — a rank rarely bestowed on a ballerina — was originally an informal title used by the Italian Ballet Masters of the early Romantic Ballet for an exceptional ballerina. It was the renowned french Ballet Master Marius Petipa who first designated Prima ballerina assoluta as an official title when in 1894 he declared the Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani to be the supreme danseuse in all of Europe. Legnani performed with the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet from 1893 until 1901.
The second ballerina to be given the title was Legnani's contemporary Mathilde Kschessinskaya. Petipa, however, did not agree that she should hold such a title. Although she was an extraordinary ballerina, she obtained the title primarily via Imperial prestige.
There were only two ballerinas to hold the title Prima ballerina assoluta in the Soviet Union: Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya. Other persons awarded the title include Alicia Alonso from Cuba and Margot Fonteyn from England.
To date no American ballerina has ever held the rank of Prima ballerina assoluta. Rudolf Nureyev considered the ballerina Cynthia Gregory to be the only American ballerina deserving of such a title.
