Johansson Christian, *20 May 1817 Stockholm, †25 December 1903 Saint Petersburg, Swedish dancer and teacher. He trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm and under A. Bournonville in Copenhagen. Between 1837 and 1841, he was a principal dancer in the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm, partnering M. Taglioni. In 1841, he was engaged by the ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg and, following his debut in the ballet Gitana (music by J.P. Schmidt, D. Auber), was appointed principal dancer. His dancing was characterised by technical and stylistic perfection, elegance and grace. Johansson’s outstanding roles include: Alvar (Herta, music by J. Keller), Achmet Pascia (La Péri, music by F. Burgmüller), Albrecht (Giselle, music by A. Adam), Franz [also called François] (Paquerette, music by F. Benoist), the Baron (Saltarella, music by various composers), Count Ulrich (Theolinda, or The Spirit of the Valley, music by C. Pugni), Count Poliński (Le Diable à quatre, music by A. Adam), Salvator Rosa (Catarina ou la Fille du bandit, music by C. Pugni), Gringoire (Esmeralda, music by C. Pugni). Between 1860 and 1884, he performed mime roles. From 1860, he taught at the Imperial Ballet School, and after retiring from dancing, he became one of the school’s leading teachers and a co-founder of the Russian school of classical dance. His pupils included, among others, M. Kschessinska, O. Preobrajenska, T. Karsavina, A. Pavlova, P. Gerdt, N. Legat and V. Tikhomirov. His daughter Anna Johansson (1860–1917) was a soloist with the Saint Petersburg ballet from 1878 to 1899, and a teacher at the Imperial Ballet School from 1900 to 1917.
