Alessandra Ferri

Alessandra Ferri trained at the Royal Ballet School and became a principal dancer of the Royal Ballet before Kenneth MacMillan -- who called her the greatest dramatic ballerina of her generation -- brought her to American Ballet Theatre in 1985. Her portrayals of Juliet, Manon, and Juliet in his choreography became definitive: dancing of such emotional transparency that audiences consistently reported weeping without knowing why. She retired in 2007 but returned in 2013 and continued performing into her late fifties, her artistic authority undiminished by time in a manner virtually without precedent in the art form.