André Levinson

Born in St. Petersburg in 1887, André Levinson studied at the University of St. Petersburg and later taught Romance languages there. After leaving Russia in 1918, he settled in Paris, where he built his reputation as a French dance journalist and critic.

Levinson became especially known for his writing on ballet. Sources describe him as a passionate defender of classical technique and "pure" academic dance, and his criticism of the Ballets Russes and other performers helped give him an international reputation. He also received the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur.

He died in Paris in 1933. Though not as widely known today as some of the artists he wrote about, he remains an important figure in dance history because he treated criticism as a serious intellectual art in its own right.