A danseur noble traditionally was a male ballet dancer who projected great nobility of character. Over the last century the term has been used to define a male principal dancer who performs at the highest theatrical level combining grace with ability. Some use danseur noble as the masculine equivalent to a Prima Ballerina.

Notable examples

Historical and retired

Gaétan Vestris

Charles Le Picq

Vaslav Nijinsky

Léonide Massine

Serge Lifar

Adolph Bolm

Mikhail Mordkin

Anton Dolin

Theodore Kosloff

Pavel Gerdt

Vakhtang Chabukiani

Pyotr Gusev

Asaf Messerer

Roman Jasiński

Igor Youskevitch

Vasily Tikhomirov

Aleksey Yermolayev

Nikolai Fadeyechev

Sergei Filin

Askold Makarov

Konstantin Sergeyev

Erik Bruhn

Rudolf Nureyev

Edward Villella

Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux

Nicolas Le Riche

Carlos Acosta

Jean Guizerix

Vladimir Vasiliev

Cyril Atanassoff

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Henning Kronstam

Jacques d'Amboise

Fernando Bujones

Robert Helpmann

Michael Somes

Reid Anderson

Anthony Dowell

Wayne Eagling

José Martinez

Ivan Nagy

Peter Martins

Laurent Hilaire

Julio Bocca

Nikolay Tsiskaridze

Manuel Legris

Johan Kobborg

Ethan Stiefel

Tamas Detrich

Maris Liepa

Yuri Soloviev

Alexander Godunov

Irek Mukhamedov

Farukh Ruzimatov

Vladimir Malakhov

Current

Roberto Bolle

Mikhail Baryshnikov

José Manuel Carreño

David Hallberg

Marcelo Gomes

Vladimir Yaroshenko

Federico Bonelli

Sergei Polunin

Thiago Soares

Rupert Pennefather

Igor Zelensky

Mathieu Ganio

Stéphane Bullion

Evan McKie

Matthew Golding

Igor Kolb

Leonid Sarafanov

Vladimir Shklyarov

Friedemann Vogel

Ballet occupations

Danseur noble