Maria Kochetkova is considered ballet’s most fashion-forward and social media-savvy prima ballerina. She has built quite the Instagram fan base. Her 157,000 followers enjoy getting a look into her ballet life and her sense of style.
Maria was born in Moscow, Russia and trained in the Bolshoi Ballet School. She joined the San Francisco Ballet as principal dancer in 2007, and was appointed Herbert Family Principal Dancer in 2012. She has danced many major roles but some of the most notable are Juliet in the 2015 film of Tomasson’s Romeo & Juliet and Grand Pas de Deux Ballerina in Tomasson’s Nutcracker on PBS’ Great Performances.
She is an amazing inspiration to all of the aspiring young dancers with her strong work ethic and beautiful stage presence.
Get to know Maria in this video.
Dancing with her at this year’s The Nutcracker by Festival Ballet Theatre is fellow San Francisco Ballet dancer, Vitor Luiz. Vitor is from Brazil and trained with The Royal Ballet School before joining San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer in 2009. His major dance roles include performances in Tomasson’s Giselle as Albrecht, The Nutcracker as Nutcracker Prince and King of the Snow, Romeo & Juliet as Mercutio, and Swan Lake as Prince Siegfried; Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote as Basilio and Balanchine’s Coppélia as Franz, among many others.
Vitor Luiz in Festival Ballet Theatre’s Gala of the Stars. Photo by Skye Schmidt.
Both Maria and Vitor have participated in Festival Ballet Theatre performances. This will be Maria’s fourth performance with us including The Nutcracker and Gala of the Stars. And Vitor has recently joined us for Le Corsaire in 2015 and multiple Gala of The Stars. You can watch Maria and Vitor live on December 16-17, 2016 at The Irvine Barclay Theater. Get your tickets here.
