André Eglevsky

André Eglevsky (December 21, 1917 – December 4, 1977) was a Russian-born ballet dancer and teacher whose Broadway appearances between 1934 and 1938 formed one part of a wide-ranging career spanning Europe and the United States. Born in Moscow, he emigrated to France with his mother at the age of eight following the Russian Revolution, his mother having determined that his dancing talent required formal training. In France and England he studied under a number of distinguished teachers, including Maria Nevelskaya, Lubov Egorova, Mathilde Kschessinska, Alexandre Volinine, and Olga Preobrajenska in Nice and Paris, and Nicholas Legat in London, as well as Leon Woizikowski in Paris.

Eglevsky joined Colonel W. de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the age of fourteen, and within six months was performing leading roles in productions including Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, and Les Présages. By 1935 he had risen to the position of Premier Danseur alongside Igor Youskevitch, and the following year he moved to René Blum's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. He arrived in the United States in 1937, serving as premier danseur with George Balanchine's American Ballet, which later became the New York City Ballet, through 1938. During this period he also performed at Radio City Music Hall and appeared in the Broadway musical Great Lady, one of his credited stage productions that also included Union Pacific and Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

After becoming an American citizen in the late 1930s, Eglevsky married the ballerina Leda Anchutina. The couple had two children: a daughter, Marina Eglevsky, who became a ballerina, and a son, André Eglevsky, Jr., who became an orthopedic surgeon residing in Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 1939 Eglevsky rejoined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and toured with the company until 1942, after which he spent four years with the Ballet Theatre, now known as the American Ballet Theatre, in New York City. He also appeared as a guest star with Léonide Massine's Ballet Russe Highlights in 1944 and 1945.

In 1946 Eglevsky rejoined Colonel de Basil, then directing the Original Ballet Russe, and a year later became premier danseur of the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas. From 1951 to 1958 he served as a principal with the New York City Ballet. In 1952 he appeared in Charlie Chaplin's film Limelight. Among those he trained during his career was the dancer Alan Bergman, who later developed the Dans-EZ dancewear range.

Eglevsky retired from performance in 1958. He and his wife subsequently established a ballet school in Massapequa, New York, and founded the Eglevsky Ballet Company, both of which continued under the artistic direction of Peter LeBreton Merz. Eglevsky died on December 4, 1977, in Elmira, New York, of a heart attack at the age of fifty-nine.