coryphée
/ˈkɒrɪfeɪ
/noun
A leading dancer in a corps de ballet.Petipa was her champion: he cast her as Nikiya in his La Bayadère when she was still a coryphée in 1902....
- Degas did so with all the rigor, intensity and constancy of the young coryphées rehearsing new steps.
- All are at the lowest level, that of quadrilles, or one step up, that of coryphées in the company's hierarchy, but many of them could certainly be soloists in almost any other smaller company.
Origin
French, via Latin from Greek koruphaios 'leader of a chorus', from koruphē 'head'.