Maria Kowroski

[Leigh Witchel]

Discussions on last night's Diamonds prompted me to start this topic. In a discussion with a friend, we both agreed that she wasn't a modern-day Farrell, and it was unfair to stuff her into those shoes, when she could inhabit a pair of her own perfectly nicely.

That being said, what I do think she may be is a modern-day Jean Harlow: a very beautiful woman with the ability to be riotously funny. She's used that touch in a few ballets (Titania scene with Bottom springs to mind) and Christopher Wheeldon has noticed it astutely and taken advantage of it.

Bringing us to another rueful point. Funny how great crops of ballerinas coincide with someone who creates repertory tailored to show them as themselves. Sure, we've had ballerinas who've had barely anything made on them (Makarova, in comparison) but how wonderful it would be for someone to take the hopeful ones waiting, Kowroski included, and make dances on them.

What do folks think of Kowroski?

[pj]

I have only seen her dance once -- two years ago at SPAC. She was the Siren in Prodigal Son, and partnered by Damien W. She was incredible technically, and her acting ability on stage was very good. She was a very evil, scary Siren. I cried when I heard people around me laughing at the ballet (they didn't understand it). It very clearly dipicted the biblical story in such a powerful way. Her characterization helped make a lasting impression on me.

[glebb]

I have seen Maria Kowroski as the Siren, the Firebird and on some of the televised NYCB performances. I think she is beautiful and she is for sure one of my favorite dancers.

[perky]

Instead of seeing Kowroski as trying to fill Farrell's shoes, I wonder if she isn't more along the lines of Tanaquil LeClercq. She already does one of her parts quite wonderfully, Western Symphony and I think she might be quite good in that repertory.

I'm not sure if she has performed in any of Leclercq's other roles, La Valse, Ivesiana, Choleric in The Four T's, the girl in Robbin's The Concert, but that's definately how I would cast her.

I think it was Melissa Hayden who said of LeClercq "she was like Garbo when she danced." Sounds a little bit like Kowroski. And Maria also shares LeClercq's wonderful comic timing and theatrical temperment.

It's too bad Mr. B. isn't there to reveal to us who Kowroski really is, as he did with Farrell, LeClercq and all of those wonderful ballerinas who came before her. Hopefully a choreographer will come along to help show her the way so she doesn't have to do it all by herself.

[Farrell Fan]

Kowroski was still in the corps when I saw her do second movement Symphony in C, and I remember thinking, "She looks a lot like Suzanne." I suppose others felt the same way -- I believe I remember even critics mentioning it. But I agree that the comparison is no longer apt. And I certainly agree that she needs a choreographer to bring her to her full ballerina greatness. That's been the problem at NYCB for a long time -- the dancers are left to develop on their own. Some do and others, sadly, don't.

[Michael]

Perky you hit the nail on the head. She does look especially good in Leclerq's old roles. I would love to see her in La Valse. I would indeed love to see La Valse in general and was sorry it's not being revived this season (ditto La Sonnambula). A Farrel role I do like her in is 2d Movement Symphony in C, as is also mentioned above.

[atm711]

The 'Farrell' role in 'Symphony in C' was originally LeClercq's. Kowroski would probably be better in the role than LeClercq--she has a more beautiful classical line.

[Leigh Witchel]

Ooooh. I've seen Kowroski in 2nd Movement, but not LeClercq. Still, 2nd movment is not a great Kowroski role. It's too grand for her; like Diamonds I feel her play tragedienne when what she'd really like to do is laugh. Also, her stretch can make that arabesque penchee potentially hazardous. She once did a 6:10 penchee there and I could swear I saw Askegard gently tugging her palms up to signal her to stop - because if she didn't he wasn't going to be able to help her back up. I don't think she does this from lack of taste. People with that kind of stretch really can't feel it when their splits go beyond 180 degrees.

[Jane Simpson]

Kowroski is billed to do Terpsichore in London in a couple of months, in a one-off show put together by Zelensky (and also including Lopatkina in the Shades scene, with Kirov corps de ballet, and Zacharova in Scheherazade). Is this a role that suits her?

[carbro]

:offtopic:

I don't think she does this from lack of taste.  People with that kind of stretch really can't feel it when their splits go beyond 180 degrees.

Oh? I don't understand, because when I stretch my arms to the side, I can feel when they are pretty much aligned. I can definitely feel the difference between (for the sake of simplicity) 9:15 and 9:25. The energy flow, not the muscle tension, tells the dancer the degrees of extension.

If a dancer can't find 180 degrees, how can she be expected to know 45? And many corps demonstrate a very solid consistency when it comes to 45.

[cargill]

It's funny you mentioned Jean Harlow, I think of her in those lines too, but more like Carole Lombard, with a daffy kind of cool elegance--Harlow had a lot of things, but coolness wasn't one of them! I think she is best, so far, when she can hide behind a character, and for me Titania is where I like her best. In pieces like Mozartiana, she does look too much like Farrel, a sort of one dimentional version, and I don't think she has found her own way into those roles. For me, in Symphony in C, her flexibility works against her, because it is so easy it seems like a trick and doesn't express anything, like pulling against fate. The 185 or so degrees also just looks distorted and destroys the line. Just because something can be done does not mean it should be!

[Leigh Witchel]

Carbro - ask a dancer with that kind of stretch. I don't have it, so I'm not talking from personal experience, but as you implied, they have to learn where 45 and 180 is. There's nothing stopping them and they don't know. I asked one of my dancers to stop a penchee before her skirt rode up and she asked me to watch her and tell her exactly the point where I wanted her to stop "because I can't feel anything there." Another dancer when I was much younger - she doing splits and pulling her leg back and up to get more stretch.

Me: What do you feel in a split?

Her: Nothing.

Astonished me: NOTHING?

Her: I can't feel it [at 180]. I don't feel anything.

[Alexandra]

Kowroski is billed to do Terpsichore in London in a couple of months, in a one-off show put together by Zelensky (and also including Lopatkina in the Shades scene, with Kirov corps de ballet, and Zacharova in Scheherazade). Is this a role that suits her?

Jane's question got lost in the discussion so I'm repeating it:

[Leigh Witchel]

Jane, I wish that could be answered easily. The problem is, there's more than one "correct" Apollo and Terpsichore is a reactive role. Who she is depends on the Apollo. My notes show Kowroski did the role in '97 with Zelensky. Here's what I wrote at that time - she was very young; it's 7 years ago (The file is dated May 18, 1997)

A tall, lush cast performed Apollo, with Zelensky as Apollo, and three cushy muses, Diana White, Monique Meunier and Maria Kowroski as Calliope, Polyhymnia and Terpsichore. 

I have not seen a part that better suits Meunier's joy at being on stage.  Exuberant, and irrepressible, one can see that this muse will never be able to keep silent.  She eats space like a tiger and looks wonderful in the role.  Kowroski is promising as well.  At present, she is coming back into action from an injury and this is my only time having seen her.  She seems talented and young, but a bit concerned with being pretty.  I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[perky]

Michael had mentioned earlier both La Sonnambula and La Valse. Both ballets will be presented during NYCB's spring season. As to who will be cast is anyone's guess.

[Michael]

(Off topic) Sonnambula and La Valse belong together -- two takes on the dark side of the glamour of the 1930s, that most incredibly glamorous decade of the 20th century, followed by such tragic darkness. Two of Balanchine's most important works.

(On Topic). Among other roles Maria has danced Concerto Barocco with some success (don't remember if it was the Leclerq or the Adams role) and the pas de deux in Agon. Has she done Choleric, as someone (Perky?) suggested? It would be a great role for her, I think.

Wheeldon made a fine comic role for her in that thing he did which resembled Gala Performance. I don't know that he used her in any of his Ligeti things, but he did do a nice role for Muriel Maffre in one of them which I think Maria could have danced had it been set on City Ballet instead of SFB.

What I like about the thought of her in many of these things is that she can manage them technically, if not in interpretive qualities. She has definite limitations technically in what she can perform, particularly when one goes into grand allegro gear. I don't think those borders will ever shift in any major direction. The interpretive qualities can presumably come along.

[carbro]

Michael, Maria danced the Leclerq role in Barocco. My sense of the role requires a clarity that she lacks -- at least now.

I love her sense of humor, which is put to wonderful use in Western and Gala Performance. I would like to see her take more roles of a "lighter" nature.

[Dale]

I thought Kowroski's Terpsichore was lovely and I've missed it since Zelensky left. She's not as flirtatious as the Terpsichores shown with the Kirov in London, she maintains an air of detachment and sometimes humor.

[oberon]

I've been watching Kowroski for 5 or 6 years and this season noticed a new dimension in her Odette/Odile which may be attributed to her having done the role in Russia and absorbing nuances from the older Russian dancers. She always danced it well, now there is more poetry. I think she is "too tall" for LA VALSE and maybe for SONNAMBULA (a ballet I don't really like). She was funny in VARIATIONS SERIEUSES but the humour there was a little too blatant; I liked her even more in THE CONCERT. Her Titania is perfect, and in perhaps the best ballet

to emerge from recent Diamond Projects (PRISM) she was magnificent. Since I don't like "Broadway" ballets, I didn't see BLOSSOM or DOUBLE FEATURE.

I always look forward to seeing her although sometimes she seems preoccupied and a bit distanced from what she is doing. I get a feeling that she isn't the happiest girl in the world...don't ask me why because it is intangible. For sure she is not Suzanne Farrell...though she dances some Farrell rep to me they are not really very similar. Kowroski's legs are mesmerizing; I never felt that way about Suzanne's!

[aspirant]

If such a thing as "wrist police" existed, Kowroski would be doing some serious time.

[oberon]

Aspirant,

Yes, her wrists are the only thing about her that needs "fixing"...especially the right one. I did think this season there was a little improvement.

Oberon

[Clara 76]

I hope nobody minds but I am 'Bumping' this up after watching the Balanchine celebration on PBS the other night.

I really enjoyed Maria's dancing-actually more than Nichols or Kistler which breaks my heart to say.

I am concerned however, about her knees.

She is SO hyperextended that I fear her career may be cut short if she isn't very careful.

Anyone care to comment???

Clara

[lampwick]

Maria Kowroski's strength and speed absolutely astounds me.

Like Clara 76 mentioned, she has very loose joints and is quite tall. This type of body is extremely difficult to work with (though aesthetically ideal). I have no idea how she could have built the strength to control those limbs. She must have worked very VERY hard to to have the control that she does. I've been lucky enough to watch her up close on many occasions and she actually has very clean technique. In small jumps, her torso does not budge one iota..it's very "held" and strong.

Her knees ARE hyperextended but they're not as extreme as they appear on TV I think.. .And her bones are straight and aligned. It's so important to really align yourself over the working hip with hyperextension and Maria does this very well. Instead of pulling away from the working leg in an extension and placing undue stress on the joints, she puts herself right on her leg, and allows the skeleton to support itself, with minimal "pulling"effort from the muscles. Watch the section in Barocco where she does the developpee over the people kneeling down. She goes right onto the supporting hip and rotates the working leg right in the socket for turnout, barely any lift to the hip on the working leg side. This is very good technique, it has to come from a ton of support in the abdominals. Effortless. That's why she appears so "curvy" when she dances, even though she's a very thin woman. She uses her body in a very anatomical, straightforward fashion.

Kowroski's lumbar spine is very curved, which helps give her those amazing arabesques, and I'd be more apt to think her back would be prone to injury, rather than the knees. She's so very strong though, and I'm sure gets constant attention from staff physical therapists and pilates and so on. Sports medicine/dance medicine has gotten so good. Total guesswork though, I have absolutely no idea if she is prone to injury or not or what her "issues" are.

Some of her lines look extreme (well over 6 o'clock penchee and so forth) but I'm pretty sure her actual "core" technique is really strong and from what I've seen, she actually works in a very smart manner. She's just a very unique dancer and quite lucky to have that body. She's getting more sure of herself too, especially in pirouettes. They're really looking good and consistant. I really liked her in Kammermusik No.2 a couple weeks ago. She's got a quirky, comedic quality that comes out in fast ballets like that. She's lovely in adagio work because of her lines and amazing arabeque, but to me that's just physical.

I hope we can watch her evolve and grow for many years to come.

[Clara 76]

Thank you Lampwick!

I agree with you-she's just compelling to watch. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

I can tell that her core technique is strong-it would have to be in order for her to be able to do the things she does.

She brings a certain quality to what she does. Your assessment of how she works sounds good, and I hope we will have many more years to watch her!!!

Clara

[Guest Alice172]

Hello everyone, I am new and never posted here before but I used to be a serious ballet student but then quit and now I am trying to get a BFA in dance and I am still extremely interested although I know I don't have what it takes to be a real dancer (I am also majoring in bio b/c of that). I just had to reply to this though! That was just my mini introduction.

I lovelovelove Maria . She came from the same ballet school as me (SGRB) although obviously we went in vastly different directions. One of her first teachers was Robert Estner (he is married to Charthel Arthur who is the ballet mistress at joffrey chicago). I had them both as teachers too and they used to tell stories about her in class (before she was promoted to principal and super-famous). One of the things Mr. E said about her was that when she was in Ballet 2 (our school goes up to 7 and you don't even get on pointe until ballet 5) she could do double pirouettes and all sorts of other steps that a student that young would not be expected to do. She could just "see the picture". That is what he calls it. She had a picture of what she wanted to do, what a step was supposed to look like, and she just did it. It was not complicated to her. She had no idea that a double pirouette (or anything else) was hard. I think maybe that is part of how she is still so phenomenal today and she seems to have no limits. She just takes her body apart and makes it do what she wants it to.

Also, I quit in March 2001 but before that when she came home to visit in the summers and in Decembers she took my class. And she brought Charles with her! They are both so tall and glamorous. She almost makes me sick how perfect she is though. She will do like 5 attitude turns and then balance at the end! Not exaggerating at all. They are both not in the least snobby though and are humble and will talk to you even if you are a lowly student who kisses the floor they walk on.

Ok, sorry for babbling but I couldn't resist sharing. I am so proud of her and I wish I lived in NY so I could see her perform more. So gorgeous! BTW, I don't have autographed shoes of hers b/c they are too expensive but I have her autograph on a pair on mine if anyone cares B) .