Alexandra Danilova, the scintillating
and elegant ballerina,

was an ambassador of ballet
wherever she went.

She always gave her best,
even in small-town America,

saying, "There might be some future
artist in the audience."

She combined training
in the great tradition

of tsarist Russia's Mariinsky Theatre,
with dancing the most advanced

contemporary ballet repertoire.

She sometimes partnered
with Igor Youskevitch

in the Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo.

Later, she was an important faculty
member of George Balanchine's

School of American Ballet,
where she passed down the heritage

of the Mariinsky Theatre,
until she retired in 1989.

Madame Danilova,
as she was respectfully called,

except when she was called Choura,
a Russian nickname for Alexandra,

was born in Peterhof Russia,

and trained at the renowned Imperial
Ballet School in Saint Petersburg.

She graduated into the Ballet of
the Mariinsky Theatre,

now also called the Kirov Ballet.

In 1924, she, along with Balanchine
and other colleagues,

made a daring escape to Europe,

where she and Balanchine,
then informally married,

joined the famous
Ballet Russe De Serge Diaghilev.

Balanchine created the role of
Terpsichore in Apollo with her in mind.

She became ballerina of
Colonel de Basil's Ballet Russe,

and later Serge Denham's
Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo

from 1938 to 1952, creating the major
roles in Balanchine's "La Sonnambula,"

"The Triumph of Neptune," Léonide
Massine's witty "Gaîté Parisienne,"

"Le Beau Danube," et
"La Boutique fantasque".

Massine described Madame Danilova's
stage presence as "champagne".

Known for her wit on stage and off,
she was outstanding in "Coppélia,"

as well as in "Swan Lake,"
"The Nutcracker,"

"Raymonda," and as Myrtha
in "Giselle".

Later she created an ensemble called
"Great Moments of Ballet,"

with which she toured widely.

And in 1958, she danced and acted
in the Broadway musical "Oh, Captain!"

She also became choreographer
at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

She was recipient of the Capezio Dance
Award, and the Dance Magazine Award,

and in 1989 she became the first dancer
who was not also a choreographer

to receive the prestigious
Kennedy Center Honors.

Her book "Choura: The Memoirs
of Alexandra Danilova" came out in 1986.

During the dance celebration, she served
on the Ballet Russes panel,

spoke at the gala, and taught
a master class,

where she said, "In demonstrating
a reverence for the stage,

I always think of it like the Asian 'from
the mind, from the lips, from the heart'.

If you think of 'from the heart,'
you will always do the movement right."