Jerome Robbins' Opus 19/The Dreamer and Christopher Wheeldon's Ghosts'
I have 4 premieres this week (Opus 19/The Dreamer, Ghosts, Theme and Variations and Serenade). I'll be dancing my first Jerome Robbins ballet Opus 19/The Dreamer on the opening night of Program 2 on Tuesday night February 9th (partner
"Maria Kochetkova and Davit Karapetyan shone in the lead roles." San Francisco Examiner
Ghosts
"I have never admired Yuan Yuan Tan (Tuesday) or Maria Kochetkova (Wednesday) more than in the main duet" The New York Times
Nutcracker Grand Pas de Deux, Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen
Photo ©Erik TomassonWednesday night, December 9th - Grand Pas de Deux with Davit Karapetyan
Thursday night, December 10th - Sugar Plum Fairy
Friday night, December 11th - Snow Queen with Gennadi Nedvigin (premiere)
Sunday Matinee, December 13th - Grand Pas de Deux with Davit Karapetyan
San Francisco Ballet's 'Swan Lake'
San Francisco Ballet's 'Nutcracker' on TV and DVD
"Having three tries at perfection didn't alleviate the extra pressure on 24-year-old principal Maria Kochetkova, who found herself cast in the climactic Grand Pas de Deux opposite hunky, buoyant Davit Karapetyan as one of her first assignments with a brand-new company."It was a new stage, a new audience, a new ballet to me," said Kochetkova, who trained at Russia's Bolshoi School and joined the San Francisco Ballet from the English National Ballet. "I found out I was cast for this two weeks before. In that pas de deux, you have to walk right into the spotlight, you have to dance right away."Taking a break after the daily company class, the doll-faced Kochetkova was critical of her sparkling performance after seeing the video a few days earlier. "The film is really beautiful, though of course for myself I see things I would do better," she said. Still, she was full of praise for the choreography - "It's really big, and I like big movements" - and gratitude to Tomasson: "He really believes in me and believes I can do it better onstage than in the studio," she said. "I felt before him I hadn't realized the things I can actually do.""
San Francisco Chronicle
SFB American Tour: Chicago
Chicago reviews:
Within the Golden Hour and Don Quixote Pas de Deux
"Wheeldon has crafted a series of hauntingly lovely duets for three principals couples, with particularly hypnotic dancing by the petite, technically bravura, highly expressive Maria Kochetkova (a standout dancer in all of the company’s programs) and her partner, Joan Boada" "As for the gala, there were three standout sections [including the] grand pas de deux from “Don Quixote,” in which Kochetkova and Boada set the stage on fire." Chicago TribuneOn a Theme of Paganini
"At its heart is an utterly glorious pas de deux, telegraphing Tomasson's riveting sense of drama, danced exquisitely Wednesday at the Harris Theater by creamy, swarthy Davit Karapetyan and delicate Maria Kochetkova, one of the more artful ballerinas on view during this visit by the San Francisco Ballet, where Tomasson is artistic director." Chicago Tribune
"Tomasson's strongest work here is in the more intimate sequences, with tiny, delicate, Russian-bred Maria Kochetkova wholly captivating in the way she seemed to completely defy gravity with her exquisite pointe work" Chicago Sun-TimesAmerican tour: Chicago
SF Ballet Program 5 - On a Theme of Paganini
"The sweet innocence that made her "Giselle" heartbreaking proves magical again here, as Kochetkova kisses Davit Karapetyan's forehead and curls up so tiny inside his burly arms." San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Ballet ''Nutcracker'' Opening Night
Reviews:
"There were surprises to fuel little-girl ballerina dreams and grown-up balletomane ravings alike, and sometimes - especially in the sensational debut of the new Russian-trained principal Maria Kochetkova - both at once.Kochetkova, a 23-year-old recruit from the English National Ballet, is tiny and light, a sparrow. In the closing Grand Pas de Deux, she seemed hardly to touch the floor, and when she leapt toward her Nutcracker cavalier, Davit Karapetyan, for a diabolically difficult shoulder-sit, she landed as though she'd simply flitted to a fresh branch. Her variation (you know the famous music from the game Tetris and a million TV ads, come on, sing along) was a marvel of birdlike crispness. And don't forget her fouette turns in the coda: copious doubles so natural you nearly giggled. Now throw on top of all of this Karapetyan's own virtuosity: sissones so high and split in the air they were like scissors snapping open and shut. The response from parents and children both was rapturous."San Francisco Chronicle
"Maria Kochetkova, the company's newest import from Russia (via the English National Ballet), is a "different" dancer. Quite without the thin, elongated figure of a typical ballerina, the tiny dancer has it all: a self-possessed, intense, regal artist, she exudes the air of a genuine star."Examiner
"It wasn't until the Grand Pas de Deux by petite firebrand Maria Kochetkova and Davit Karapetyan that magical Tchiakovsky again met lush, magical dancing. Armenian-born Karapetyan is an athletic yet lyrical dancer who can combine geometrically pure virtuosity with a certain warm irony, as he did Thursday during the Grand Pas de Deux. His turns in second rotatedwith clockwork surety, and his leaps and beats were preternaturally secure. He partnered Russian-born Kochetkova, who combined a sparkling blend of robust attack and precise lyricism, effortlessly. And it was then that full magic of "Nutcracker" returned, the pairsewing up the night with enough wizardry to meet Drosselmeyer toe to toe."Contra Costa Times
