Maria Kowroski - New York City Ballet

Maria Kowroski
kowroski.jpg
Photo © Peter Hurley 
Background
Maria Kowroski was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she began her ballet training at age seven with the School of Grand Rapids Ballet. Ms. Kowroski entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in the fall of 1992. She became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in the summer of 1994 and was invited to join the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in January of 1995. In the spring of 1997, Ms. Kowroski was promoted to the rank of soloist and in the spring of 1999, she was promoted to principal dancer.
Featured Roles Since Joining NYCB

Since joining New York City Ballet, Ms. Kowroski has appeared in many of the works from the Company's vast repertory, dancing featured roles in:

George Balanchine's:

  • Agon
  • Apollo
  • Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (Fourth Movement)
  • Bugaku
  • Chaconne
  • Concerto Barocco
  • Cortège Hongrois
  • Episodes (Bach)
  • Firebird
  • The Four Temperaments
  • George Balanchine's The Nutcracker™ (Sugarplum Fairy, Dewdrop, and Coffee)
  • Ivesiana
  • "Emeralds," "Rubies," and "Diamonds" from Jewels
  • Kammermusik No. 2
  • Liebeslieder Walzer
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania)
  • Monumentum pro Gesualdo
  • Movements for Piano and Orchestra
  • Mozartiana
  • Prodigal Son
  • Robert Schumann's "Davidsbündlertänze"
  • Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
  • Swan Lake
  • Serenade
  • Symphony in C (Second Movement)
  • Union Jack (R.C.A.F. and Wrens)
  • La Valse
  • Variations pour une Porte et un Soupir

 Ulysses Dove's:

  • Red Angels

Eliot Feld's:

  • The Unanswered Question

Robert La Fosse's:

  • Concerto in Five Movements

Dougles Lee's:

  • Lifecasting

Peter Martins':

  • Harmonielehre
  • Jazz (Six Syncopated Movements) 
  • Naïve and Sentimental Music
  • River of Light
  • The Sleeping Beauty (Lilac Fairy, Carabosse, and Diamond)
  • Swan Lake
  • Suite from Histoire du Soldat
  • Todo Buenos Aires
  • The Waltz Project

Jerome Robbins':

  • Antique Epigraphs
  • The Cage
  • The Concert
  • Dances at a Gathering
  • Fanfare
  • The Goldberg Variations
  • I'm Old Fashioned
  • In G Major
  • In the Night
  • Moves
  • Piano Pieces

Richard Tanner's:

  • Ancient Airs and Dances
  • Schoenberg/Wuorinen Variations
  • Sonatas and Interludes

Christopher Wheeldon's:

  • Polyphonia

She originated featured roles in:

  • Jorma Elo's Slice to Sharp
  • Mr. Martins' Them Twos
  • Susan Stroman's "The Blue Necklace" (Dorothy Brooks) from Double Feature and "Blossom Got Kissed" from Duke!
  • Mauro Bigonzetti's In Vento, Luce Nascosta, Oltremare,Vespro
  • Boris Eifman's Musagète
  • Eliot Feld's Organon
  • Mr. Martins' Thou Swell
  • Wayne McGregor's: Outlier
  • Benjamin Millepied's Double Aria
  • Helgi Tomasson's Prism
  • Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain and Variations Sérieuses
Other Performances
In May of 2002, Ms. Kowroski appeared in the Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of "New York City Ballet's Diamond Project: Ten Years of New Choreography," dancing in Them Twos and Red Angels, and in May of 2004 she appeared in the Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of "Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine 100," dancing in Concerto Barocco.

Ms. Kowroski has performed as a guest artist with the Maryinsky Ballet, in productions of Swan Lake and Jewels, as well as with the Munich Ballet in Apollo and Brahms Schoenberg Quartet.
Honors
Ms. Kowroski was the recipient of the Princess Grace Award in 1994.