Determining the number one dancer in the world is no easy feat. Dance is a vast and varied art form encompassing countless styles, techniques, and forms across cultures. Factors like technical skill, artistic expression, popularity, influence, and innovation must be weighed when naming the top dancer. While subjectivity plays a role, certain dancers stand out as paragons in their genres and within the greater dance world. By evaluating dancers’ prodigious talents and iconic statuses, we can identify who might be considered the number one dancer in the world today.
Assessing Criteria for the Top Dancer
When deciding who should be crowned the number one dancer in the world, there are several key criteria to consider:
Technical Ability
The number one dancer must possess outstanding technical facility and skill. This includes attributes like flexibility, strength, coordination, balance, control, and precision. The dancer’s technique should exemplify technical excellence within their genre.
Artistry
Beyond technique, the number one dancer must demonstrate sublime artistry. This encompasses musicality, emotion, storytelling ability, and stage presence. The dancer should be able to infuse choreography with feeling and intent.
Style and Versatility
The top dancer should excel in their main genre but also have versatility across multiple styles. Adaptability and well-roundedness help showcase a dancer’s breadth of talent.
Difficulty and Risk-Taking
The number one dancer should confidently execute challenging choreography, taking risks that highlight their capabilities. Pushing boundaries beyond expectations is a hallmark of great dancing.
Creativity and Innovation
As artists, truly phenomenal dancers bring creativity and innovation to their work. Generating new forms, techniques, or directions for dance enhances their status as the number one dancer.
Legacy and Influence
The number one dancer will also have a lasting impact on dance through their legacy as an inspiration for future generations. Their influence on technique, choreography, and style cements their position at the forefront of dance.
Reputation and Recognition
While subjective, reputation and industry/public recognition provide important perspective on who might be viewed as the number one dancer. Awards, rankings, press coverage, and popularity offer insight into a dancer’s stature.
Top Contenders for Number One Dancer
Based on the above criteria, these dancers emerge as top contenders for the number one dancer in the world today:
Misty Copeland
A trailblazing ballerina and the first African American female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre. She is renowned for her technical excellence, artistic expressiveness, and barrier-breaking career.
Sylvie Guillem
A French ballet legend recognized as one of the most gifted and accomplished ballerinas of all time. She brought new levels of technical perfection and creative artistry to ballet as a prima ballerina.
Mikhail Baryshnikov
A Russian-American danseur and choreographer who achieved rockstar status as an iconic principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. His technical virtuosity and charisma transformed perceptions of male ballet dancers.
Savion Glover
The American tap prodigy who blazed a trail for tap’s reemergence through his hard-hitting, rhythmically complex style. His breathtaking improvisation and choreographic genius expanded tap vocabulary and gained recognition as a serious dance form.
Ruth St. Denis
The early modern dance pioneer whose creative choreography inspired by diverse world cultures laid the foundation for the American modern dance movement. She liberated dance from rigid classicism through expressive, emotive movement.
Vaslav Nijinsky
The Russian ballet dancer and choreographer who leapt ballet into the realm of modernism. His revolutionary and provocative choreography for Ballets Russes fundamentally shifted perspectives on what ballet could be.
Alvin Ailey
The African American modern dance trailblazer who created vibrant, spiritually charged works celebrating black cultural identity. He established the influential Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and popularized modern dance.
Michael Jackson
The “King of Pop” whose iconic music videos and stage performances brought dance into the mainstream. His signature style and incredible artistry made him one of the most influential dancers and entertainers of all time.
Madonna
The pop music legend who, through her bold choreography and dance-driven performances, made dance visuals central to pop culture. She paved the way for contemporary pop entertainers through constant dance reinvention.
The Case for Misty Copeland
While there are many worthy contenders, Misty Copeland stands out as the number one dancer in the world right now due to her groundbreaking career, technical and artistic excellence, widespread popular appeal, and influence as a cultural icon.
Phenomenal Technique and Artistry
As a classically-trained ballerina, Misty Copeland possesses flawless technique and effortless athleticism. She demonstrates extremely precise footwork, extension, and control alongside graceful fluidity and lyricism. Her artistry shines through emotional expression and storytelling range from fragile to fierce.
Innovative and Risk-Taking Performer
Copeland pushes stylistic boundaries in ballet by seamlessly integrating newer techniques like upper body articulation and off-axis turns. She undertakes risks, like 32 fouettés executed within complex traveling sequences, to expand perceptions of what’s possible in ballet.
Barrier-Breaking Impact
As the first African American woman promoted to principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, Copeland has smashed racial barriers in the historically exclusionary ballet world. She has diversified ballet and inspired more inclusion in dance.
Cross-Cultural Appeal
Copeland has also broken ballet’s stereotype as an elite, inaccessible art form through her mass popularity. She’s brought ballet to mainstream audiences through books, film, and TV while remaining a star principal dancer.
Fashion and Advertising Icon
She has modeled for Coach, Stuart Weitzman, Seiko, and more while gracing the covers of Time, Essence, and more publications. These high-fashion collaborations further spotlight dance.
Esteemed Reputation and Recognition
Copeland has received honors including a Dance Magazine Award, the Industry Dance Award, Black Girls Rock award, and the honor of dancing with Prince on tour. She was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People.
Legacy as a Dance Inspiration
Through programs like Project Plié that expand ballet diversity, Copeland works to inspire more accessibility and inclusivity in dance. She motivates untold numbers of young minority dancers to pursue their dreams.
Conclusion
Based on Misty Copeland’s extraordinary technique, artistry, reputation, achievement of firsts, mainstream popularity, and lasting impact on diversifying dance, she stands out as the number one dancer in the world today. She represents the pinnacle of ballet excellence while increasing representation and participation in dance overall. Copeland’s barrier-breaking career and iconic status solidify her position as the current leading dancer on the world stage. Of course, in such a vast art form full of talent, outstanding cases can be made for many virtuoso dancers at the peak of their powers. But Misty Copeland’s amalgamation of technical virtuosity, creative artistry, innovation, influence, inspiration, and elite status makes a compelling case for crowning her as number one dancer in the world right now.