( 1850 Rome - 1928 Milaan )

Enrico Cecchetti had his debut as a professional dancer on the stage of La Scala in Milan. At the height of his career, he migrated to St.Petersburg. He captivated his audiences with brilliant feats of batterie, amazing leaps, and multiple pirouettes. His technique and his gifts for mime were prodigious.
Enrico Cecchetti taught at the Imperial School in St.Petersburg from 1887–1902. From 1907–1909 he coached Anna Pavlova.
Diaghilev, artistic director of the “Ballets Russes”, hired Enrico Cecchetti for the dual roles of ballet master and mime. Cecchetti performed many mime roles which were created expressly for him by choreographers of the “Ballets Russes”.
After leaving the “Ballets Russes” Cecchetti settled in London where he opened his own school.
In 1923 he returned to Italy and resumed his teaching career at La Scala in Milan.

All of Enrico Cecchetti’s teachers had been trained by Carlo Blasis. This training created a background for Enrico Cecchetti’s method of teaching. A method for which he will always be remembered.
The Cecchetti method is a disciplined system designed with careful regard to the laws of anatomy.
Carefully orchestrated exercises are practiced in a planned sequence working on qualities essential to a dancer : balance, poise, strength, elevation, elasticity, an artistic sense of quality, use of the entire body.
Among the many dancers influenced by Cecchetti were: Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinski, Tamara Karsavina, Dame Ninette de Valois, Dame Marie Rambert, Dame Alicia Markova, Olga Preobrajenska, Serge Lifar, George Balanchine.

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