Ivan Ivanovich Chekrygin (1880–1942) was a Russian ballet dancer and composer. He was born in St. Petersburg and was the elder brother of the choreographer Alexander Chekrygin.
Chekrygin studied in the ballet department of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre School. After graduating in 1897, he joined the corps de ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre, initially appearing only in inserted dance numbers in operas. He remained with the theatre until 1917.
Alongside his performing career, Chekrygin composed music and, from 1901, attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory as a non-matriculated student, studying with Anatoly Lyadov. By the time he completed his conservatory studies in 1911, he had written songs, pieces for piano and violin, and several ballets. A number of these ballets were staged by students of the St. Petersburg Theatre School.
In 1909 he formed a group of ballet performers and toured Russian cities as its director. In 1914, he and his brother Alexander founded a ballet school which continued until 1925. Chekrygin also wrote music for inserted scenes in classical ballets, including the duet scene in the grotto in Le Corsaire.
He worked as an opera conductor in the enterprise of Sergei Bragin-Vladimirov. Chekrygin also wrote articles on ballet for periodicals, arguing for reform of choreographic education, fundamental changes to humanities instruction, and a different approach to musical training. From 1939 he taught gesture and dance at the Leningrad Conservatory.
His works included songs; pieces for piano and violin; the comic opera Nero; and the ballets Monsieur Marechal's Dolls, Spark of Love, Brotherhood of Peoples, and Little Red Riding Hood. Spark of Love, written jointly with Pavel Marzhetsky in 1900, was staged at the St. Petersburg Theatre School by Pavel Gerdt; its scene In the Kingdom of Ice was separately staged there in 1901, with the young Tamara Karsavina among its performers.
Chekrygin died in Leningrad in 1942 during the Siege of Leningrad.