When Richard Cragun travelled to Germany in the summer of 1962 for his first job as a professional dancer, the Stuttgart company which had hired him, sight unseen, on a recommendation from the teacher Vera Volkova, was considered to be just one of many provincial German troupes. His plan was to work with the company for as long as it took to save enough money to travel to Russia for further studies. But within moments of meeting the director, the South African-born choreographer John Cranko, Cragun realised that he had found a new family and Stuttgart would be his home.
In the 11 years that Cragun, who has died aged 67 after a heart attack, danced under Cranko's direction, he rose rapidly through the ranks of the Stuttgart Ballet, earned a reputation as one of the most gifted and exciting dancers of his generation and formed a partnership with the company's Brazilian ballerina, Marcia Haydée, that became legendary.
Cragun was born in Sacramento, California, one of three sons in a family where academic achievement was prized. From his earliest years, he was obsessed with music and dance. He initially studied tap, then added ballet lessons. Aged 15, he was offered a summer scholarship at the Banff School of Fine Arts (now the Banff Centre) in Alberta, Canada.
The following year, the Royal Ballet visited Sacramento. Cragun admired the dancer Alexander Grant and, at Grant's suggestion, he applied to the Royal Ballet school, where he spent a year. At his graduation performance, Cragun featured in a new creation by the choreographer Kenneth MacMillan; it was the first of their many collaborations.
Cragun joined Stuttgart in the corps de ballet, but just three years later created his first leading role for Cranko, in the ballet Opus 1, set to music by Anton Webern. His first performance with Haydée came as the result of an injury to her regular partner and, she said, "marked the beginning of an unforgettable and indescribably beautiful relationship, off stage as well".
Together they would dance all the major works of the Cranko repertoire, several created specifically for their partnership, most notably The Taming of the Shrew, in which Cragun was a strikingly handsome Petruccio, by turns self-mocking, overbearing, funny and tender. The role suited his robustly masculine and charismatic stage personality and provided a first-class showcase for his virtuosity and partnering skills. No dancer has equalled him in the role.
Following the Stuttgart company's triumphant American debut in 1969, the "Marcia and Ricky" partnership was in demand for guest performances worldwide. Cragun was a much sought-after partner, one of the first ballerinas to invite him being Margot Fonteyn.
After Cranko's premature death in 1973, the Stuttgart company had to call on outside choreographers for new works. Cragun had roles created for him by Maurice Béjart, William Forsythe, Jiirí Kilián, Glen Tetley and John Neumeier. The enduring Cragun/Haydée partnership was showcased in Neumeier's A Streetcar Named Desire (1983), of which one critic wrote of Cragun "his looks and the sheer physicality of his movements are mind-boggling".
By this time his offstage relationship with Haydée had ended, but they remained devoted friends. He was a brilliant Carabosse in Haydée's unusual production of The Sleeping Beauty and when, in 1990, the Stuttgart troupe staged the musical On Your Toes, Cragun was able to return to tap dancing, his childhood dream.
In 1996 he quit the stage to become director of the ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he spent three unhappy years. With his partner, Roberto de Oliveira, he then left Europe for Brazil, where they initially ran a contemporary dance company. Cragun also directed the ballet of the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro.
His health in recent years was poor but Cragun returned to Stuttgart in 2011 for the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Cranko's appointment.
Cragun is survived by Roberto and his younger brother, Lawrence.