Danish dancer and choreographer Erik Bruhn was BOTD in 1928. Born in Copenhagen, he began training with the Royal Danish Ballet aged nine, making his professional debut with the company in 1946. He became an international superstar in 1955 with his performance in Giselle, partnering Alicia Markova. Admired for his physical beauty, clean elegant technique and sensitive dramatic expression, he became one of the most celebrated male stars in the world, often compared to Vaslav Nijinsky. Many of his most famous performances were filmed and televised, adding to his international reputation. He continued dancing into middle age, and directed the Swedish Opera Ballet and latterly the National Ballet of Canada. Bruhn had a long term relationship with Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, meeting shortly after Nureyev’s defection to Paris in 1961 and remaining close for over 25 years. Bruhn died in 1986, officially of lung cancer though now widely thought to be of an AIDS-related illness. He was 57.