Igor Youskevitch; Principal With American Ballet Theatre

Igor Youskevitch, 82, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre known for his steps in such classical ballets as “Giselle.” A gymnast before he became a dancer, Youskevitch was born in Kiev in what is now Ukraine and moved to Belgrade with his family to escape the Russian Revolution. In 1934 he joined Les Ballets de Paris and four years later danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which moved to New York during World War II. Youskevitch became a U.S. citizen and a Navy seaman in 1944. After the war, he became principal dancer of Ballet Theatre, as the American Ballet Theatre was known. In 1954, he appeared in the film “Invitation to the Dance,” which Gene Kelly wrote, directed and starred in. Youskevitch, who retired from dancing in 1966, won international praise for such roles as the prince in “Swan Lake,” Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet” and Stanley in the ballet version of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” In his later years, he and his wife, ballerina Anna Scarpova, taught ballet. On Monday in New York City.