Prima ballerina assoluta

To be recognised as a prima ballerina assoluta is a rare honour, traditionally reserved only for the most exceptional dancers of their generation.

The title is very rarely used today and recent uses have typically been symbolic, either in recognition of a prestigious international career, or for exceptional service to a particular ballet company.

The first recorded use of the title as a company rank was in 1894, when French ballet master Marius Petipa bestowed it on Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani.

[2] Petipa, however, did not agree that she should hold such a title; although an extraordinary ballerina, he felt that she obtained the title primarily via her connections with the Imperial Russian court, as she had an affair with Nicholas II,[3][4][5] as well as two other Romanovs (Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich and her future husband Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich).

[6][7] Legnani's heir in the Italian ballet tradition, Attilia Radice trained with Enrico Cecchetti at La Scala in Milan where she became a leading dancer and was appointed prima ballerina assoluta at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma[8] in 1935.