Cecchetti, Enrico (1850-1928)

Italian ballet dancer and teacher, who is considered one of the most gifted teachers in ballet history. Born in Rome, Cecchetti became ballet master of the Imperial Theaters in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1890. From 1910 to 1913 he was ballet master to the Ballets Russes of Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Cecchetti opened his own school in London in 1918 and returned to Milan, Italy, in 1925.