Russian dancer and choreographer. He began studying dance in Moscow and completed his training at the Ballet School of the Imperial Theater in Saint Petersburg. In 1850 he became part of the dance corps of the Marinsky Theater, becoming the first dancer in 1869. He premiered roles in some Marius ballets Petipa: the Fishmonger in La Hija del Pharaoh (1862), the Count of Melun in La Camargo (1872) and Solor in La Bayadère (1877).

In 1882 he was appointed alderman of the Marinsky Theater, and in 1885 he reached the position of second ballet teacher, performing that same year his first choreography: La Fille Mal Gardée (Hertel, 1885), which was followed by The Enchanted Forest (Drigo, 1887 ), El Tulipán de Haarlem (Schel, 1887) and La Bella de Sevilla (Sbornaya, 1887), with a true Spanish air. Later he began to collaborate with Marius Petipa in the staging of the Nutcracker ballets (Tchaikovsky, 1892), Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky, 1895), for which he created acts II and IV, and The Awakening of Flora (Drigo , 1894).

Among his latest choreographies were Acis et Galathée (Kadlezt, 1896), The Daughter of Mikado (Vrangel, 1897), and the new versions of the ballets The March of the Innocents (Pugni, 1897) by Petipa, Marcobomba (Pugni, 1899) Jules Perrot and Graziella (1899) by Arthur Saint-Léon.

Although he was a highly talented creator, Ivanov did not see his full worth recognized, as he was always in the shadow of Marius Petipa. She died before the premiere of Sylvia (1901), a ballet that was completed by Pavel Gerdt.