born Oct. 27, 1946, Copenhagen, Den.
Danish-born U.S. dancer, choreographer, and director of the New York City Ballet .
He trained at the Royal Danish Ballet School and became a member of its company in 1965. He joined the New York City Ballet in 1969 as a principal dancer and created roles in ballets such as Jerome Robbins 's Goldberg Variations (1971) and George Balanchine 's Duo Concertante (1972). He began choreographing for the company in 1977 with Calcium Light Night . After Balanchine's death in 1983, Martins became codirector (until 1990) and then sole director of the company.