Maria Kowroski

[Alexandra]

Welcome, Alice, and thank you for the introduction, and for the information on Kowroski's training and teachers. Hawaii is a little far from New York -- BUT we never have news of ballet in Hawaii, so I hope you'll keep us informed.

Please feel free to join in any discussions!

[Paul Parish]

I just saw the NYCB tape last night -- and Kowroski's Barocco just mesmerized me.

I hadn't seen her before: like the poet said, "Then felt I like some watcher of the skies, when a new planet swims into his ken"

Awesome, just a glorious creature.

I can see why people are reminded of Suzanne - -she is soft and rounded, the action is invisible, the legato is so continuous, and her exaltation is so private -- it's like looking at the moon.

They took it at a VERY fast tempo -- more like the speed at which LeClercq danced Barocco than Farrell, but her performance is not sunny like LeClercq's -- I can believe -- and I'd LOVE to see -- that she's funny like Carole Lombard, oh what a fabulous gift, to have wit like THAT back again -- but Barocco didn't have that quality.

Did anybody else, by the way, feel that the tempo was perilously fast? Fayette looked almost petrified with anticipation. Maybe that's just his manner -- it certainly contrasted with Peter Boal's quality of attention earlier in the show.

Somebody mentioned Darci earlier -- from the way people talk, I was not expecting such beautiful dancing. I was moved and thrilled to see so much of her old self present in Liebeslieder.

[lampwick]

Alice172,

Thanks so much for the background info on Maria K. You can see in class and on stage how straightforward and simple her approach is, and the anecdotes about her double pirouettes and so on at a young age really make sense. I see so many very young dancers who approach class this way, and often wonder if fear and doubt set in at an older age, or if that quality stays. Especially in pirouettes, where more often than not, it's the doubt that will throw you off. Boy, do I know all about that

It's funny how a dancer who is often critizised for such things as overly-extreme extensions and broken wrists is actually, at her core, a dancer who's approach is so simple and modern. When she walks, she just walks. There's really no flash, at least none that is self-conscious.

[jimmattimore]

I love Maria Kowroski.

She has those incredicbly long and lovely legs.

Always a joy to see her dance any role.

[LEX]

Alice, I too trained with Maria and Robert Estner and Charthel Arthur. It is so true...I remember Maria was fabulously gifted at turns--multiple pirouettes even as a wee youngster. I have a newspaper clipping of a photo of her as Clara in the Nutcracker with the Grand Rapids BAllet, probably when she was 9 or so. Her arabesque was something to be admired even then. Mr. Estner and Ms. Arthur were insistent on clean technique and proper alignment, so that coupled with her amazing body (not to mention God-given talent, extensions, and beauty) contribute to her being such a joy to watch.