Lev Ivanov

Lev Ivanov (1834–1901) was a Russian dancer, choreographer, and repetiteur who served as Second Ballet Master of the Russian Imperial Ballet in St Petersburg under Marius Petipa. Although he worked largely in Petipa's shadow, he created some of the most celebrated sequences in the classical ballet repertoire. He choreographed Acts II and IV of Swan Lake (1895) — the famous 'white acts' depicting the enchanted lakeside scene — as well as the snowflake and Waltz of the Snowflakes sequences in The Nutcracker (1892). The ethereal, moonlit quality of his lake scenes in Swan Lake, with their rippling corps de ballet formations, is often cited as among the greatest achievements in classical choreography. He died in relative obscurity, and much of his solo work has been lost.