Vaslav Nijinsky

Nijinsky was well-known for his amazing ability to defy gravity with his magnificent leaps, and also for his ability of intense

characterization. He is also remembered for dancing en pointe, a skill not commonly seen by male dancers.

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9 Martha Graham

• Martha Graham is considered to be the mother of modern dance. She created the only fully-codified modern dance technique, choreographed more than one hundred and fifty works during her lifetime, and has had a remarkable impact on the entire field of modern dance.

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Josephine Baker8

Josephine Baker is primarily associated with the Jazz Age, her influence is still alive and kicking, as it were, almost one hundred and ten years after her birth.

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7 Gene Kelly

• Gene Kelly was one of the biggest stars and greatest innovators during Hollywood’s golden age of musicals. Kelly considered his own style to be a hybrid of various approaches to dance, including modern, ballet, and tap.

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6 Sylvie Guillem

At forty-eight, Sylvie Guillem continues to defy the laws of ballet—and of gravity. Guillem has changed the face of ballet with her extraordinary gifts, which she has always used with intelligence, integrity and sensitivity. Her natural curiosity and courage has led her down daring paths, beyond the usual boundaries of classical ballet.

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5 Michael Jackson

• Michael Jackson was basically the man who made music videos a trend—and without a doubt the one who made dancing an essential element of modern pop music. Jackson’s moves have now become standard vocabulary in the pop and hip-hop routines. Most modern pop icons—such as Justin Bieber, Usher, and Justin Timberlake—admit that they have been heavily influenced by Michael Jackson’s style.Photo credit: Listverse

4 Joaquin Cortes

• Joaquin Cortes is the youngest entry on this list—and even though he’s still in the process of building his legacy, he’s one of the very few dancers in history who has managed to become a phenomenal sex symbol, loved by men and women alike. It’s safe to say that Cortés is not just one of the greatest Flamenco dancers alive, but also the one who cemented the Flamenco’s place in popular culture.

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3 Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers

• Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were certainly a formidable pair of dancers. It’s said that “He gave her class, and she gave him sex appeal.” They made dancing much more appealing to the masses during rather prudish times. This perhaps owed something to the acting involved in the performance, as Rogers made dancing with Astaire look like the most thrilling experience in the world.

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2 Mikhail Baryshnikov

• is one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time; many critics consider him to be the greatest. Born in Latvia, Baryshnikov studied ballet at the Vaganova School in St. Petersburg (then known as Leningrad) before joining the Kirov Ballet in 1967. Since then, he has held the lead role in dozens of ballets. He played a key role in making ballet part of popular culture back in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, and he was the face of the art form for more than two decades. Baryshnikov is probably the most influential dancer of our time.

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1 Rudolf Nureyev

• Baryshnikov captured the hearts of critics and fellow-dancers, but Rudolf Nureyev was the one who managed to enthrall millions of ordinary people around the world. Born in Russia, he became a soloist for the Kirov Ballet at the age of twenty. In 1961, when his life offstage made him the subject of scrutiny from Russian authorities, he sought political asylum in Paris and then toured with the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas.

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