Igor Youskevitch.

It is sad to report the death of the great Russian-American dancer Igor Youskevitch, who inspired so many to dance and so many to watch. He remained an ideal picture of innate nobility and health until his last illness. His death on June 13 in New York City was the result of congestive heart failure, according to Ilona Copen, codirector with him of the New York International Ballet Competition.

Onstage and off, during his dancing career and to the end of his eighty-two years, he set an indelible example of masculine elegance, impeccable approach to ballet, and courtesy. Role model and heartthrob, he was instrumental in the acceptance of male classical dancers and the ballet classics at a time when Giselle was often dismissed as quaint. The late Erik Bruhn was quoted as saying that he became interested in dancing Giselle only after seeing Youskevitch in it.

Youskevitch also established the credibility of the male dancer in Cuba by performing with the company of Alicia Alonso, with whom he formed a great partnership of many years.

American danseurs today draw on a tradition to which Youskevitch contributed his effortless-looking virtuosity, purity of style, simplicity and sincerity in acting, and romantic ardor. He liked to stress logical motivation. Onstage he thought of himself as a dancer only when he was actually dancing, he often said; otherwise, he behaved as he felt the character would in real life, without flourishes. His clean and centered technique is attested to by the challenge that male dancers still find in Theme and Variations, which George Balanchine choreographed for him in 1947. This essence of Russian-American classical panache was his signature role, along with Albrecht and the Black Swan Pas de Deux.

Born March 13, 1912, in Piryatin, Ukraine (not Moscow, as is sometimes said), Youskevitch fled the Russian Revolution with his family at age eight. In Belgrade he became a wellknown gymnast and an engineering student. He was finally able to satisfy his interest in ballet when a concert dancer encouraged him to become her partner. His late start in training, at twenty, gave him, he felt, an analytical approach to technique and to interpretation. Although managements later publicized his sports background, he himself never stressed athleticism.

After training in the pure Maryinsky tradition with the renowned Olga Preobrajenska in Paris, he was noticed by the Diaghilev demi-caractere dancer Leon Woizikowski and received excellent coaching from him as a member of two small touring companies, Les Ballets Russes de Paris, where he partnered the very young Nathalie Krassovska, and Les Ballets de Leon Woizikowski. Youskevitch made an early reputation for lyricism in Michel Fokine's Le Spectre de la Rose, which he danced after only three years of training. He performed it in the 1936 season of Rene Blum's Ballets de Monte Carlo under Fokine's eye and two years later on BBC television with Tamara Toumanova.

As premier danseur of Woizikowski's group, Youskevitch added to his experience with a ten-month visit to Austrialia (under the aegis of Colonel de Basil) in 1936-37 and a Scandinavian tour partnering the Diaghilev ballerina Vera Nemtchinova.

Joining the Denham-Massine Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, between 1938 and 1944 Youskevitch partnered leading ballerinas such as Alicia Markova, Alexandra Danilova, Mia Slavenska, and Irina Baronova. Among the roles that Massine created on him were noble pairings with Markova in Seventh Symphony to Beethoven and Rouge et Noir to Shostakovich. He danced Fokine and Nijinska ballets and short versions of the classics.

Nineteen thirty-eight saw his marriage to a fellow dancer, Anna Scarpova, which lasted until his death. The couple settled in the United States when the Ballet Russe remained here at the outbreak of World War II.

As he was leaving the company in 1944 for service in the U.S. Navy, the critic Edwin Denby wrote in a tribute to him, "His style is calm, rich, and elastic.... The distribution of energy is intelligent and complex. The completeness of his dance education is unique among our classic male dancers.... I know of no dancer who is nearer than he to perfection. And now he is returning to his [naval] base, it is hard to think how the Monte Carlo can long continue as a first-class company without him."

After the Navy, through an effort of will he returned to dancing form. He briefly performed with Massine's Ballet Russe Highlights before joining Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre). In his years there he reached a new vividness and maturity of interpretation. During one of the company's international tours, in 1953, an interview with him appeared in Britain's Dance and Dancers which began with Peter Williams's commendation: "Of all great dancers today, [Youskevitch] is the one upon whom the English male dancer could most safely model himself."

He danced with Nora Kaye, Maria Tallchief, and others, but especially with Alonso. She shared his desire to work out logical details of interpretation. Every step should have something to say, they felt. Audiences adored their romantic aura. From 1948 when Alonso formed her company in Cuba, Youskevitch often performed with it. The two evoked passionate responses from audiences in a repertoire that included the then-rare full-length Swan Lake and ballets created for them. On recent visits to Cuba, it was clear that Youskevitch is still idolized. He received the 1993 Annual Prize of the Gran Teatro in Havana, awarded in the field of culture by a jury of artists and intellectuals. His death was mourned on Cuban television and front pages.

From 1955 to 1957 he danced once more with Ballet Russe, where he also served as artistic adviser. He and Alonso continued their partnership there, and as guests with Ballet Theatre and in concert appearances. He was featured in Gene Kelly's 1957 M-G-M film Invitation to the Dance, which provides a lively record of his dancing.

Youskevitch and his wife maintained a school in New York City for many years. His long performing career stretched into his late forties and beyond. He toured South America in 1961 with Krassovska and founded a company, Ballet Romantique, in 1963. Among the dancers was his daughter, Maria, who later became a soloist with American Ballet Theatre and who now teaches.

Youskevitch taught and staged ballets, especially Giselle and Coppelia. He headed the dance program at the University of Texas from 1971 to 1982; a four-day celebration in his honor on his retirement was one of several gala occasions for reunions with Alonso. His essays on ballet, often concerned with preserving its best traditions, appeared in the New York Times and elsewhere, and he wrote charming occasional poetry. A Dance Magazine Award was presented to him in 1959 and the Capezio Award in 1991.

He served as artistic director of the New York International Ballet Competition from its beginning in 1984, giving valuable coaching to the competitors and serving as a physical exemplar and inspiration to everyone around him with his calm, fair spirit. "Well, I tell you ...," he would begin in his measured tones, and all seemed right with the world.