Aleksandra Dionisyevna Danilova (Russian: Александра Дионисьевна Данилова; November 20, 1903 – July 13, 1997) was a Russian-born prima ballerina, who became an American citizen.

They were soon picked up by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes; Danilova as a dancer, Balanchine as a choreographer.

[1] With the latter company, Danilova and Frederic Franklin created one of the legendary ballet partnerships of the twentieth century.

The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo presented Gaîté Parisienne in the U.S. for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, on 12 October 1938, with Danilova as the Glove Seller.

On the opening night of the company's 1941 season in New York, when Danilova made her first entrance she was given a spontaneous ovation that stopped the show.

(A year later, they performed it on an episode of The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, thus preserving it for posterity.)

Danilova had a small, but nostalgically delightful, role (especially for those who knew her earlier work) in the 1977 movie The Turning Point as a ballet coach for upcoming ballerinas.

[citation needed] In Hugh Martin's Look Ma, I'm Dancin' of 1948, a disillusioned would-be dancer contrasts her skills with the talents of some of the leading ballerinas of the day, including Markova and Pavlova.