Voice of Dance

San Francisco Ballet Principal Dancer on NBC’s Superstars of Dance


January 12, 2009

Maria Kochetkova and Joan Boada of San Francisco Ballet in Christopher Wheeldon's Within The Golden Hour. Photo by Erik Tomasson.

The Moscow-born San Francisco Ballet principal dancer Maria Kochetkova is competing on Superstars of Dance as a soloist for the Russian team. The new dance show from producer Nigel Lythgoe of So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol fame, pits dance teams from across the globe (and with completely different dance styles) against each other in an Olympics-style competition complete with judges from all of the respective countries. The eight countries participating are Ireland, India, the United States, Argentina, China, Russia, South Africa and Australia. Each team is comprised of two soloists, one duo and one larger group.

Kochetkova seemed elated to make the solo semifinals on a post to her blog, www.mariakochetkova.com. “I made it to the semi finals on NBC's 'Superstars of Danceas the ballet soloist on the Russian team! I got 63 points (9-9-9-9-9-9-9).”

Kochetkova will perform again tonight at 8/7c on NBC. She trained at the Bolshoi School in Moscow and danced with The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, and the Russian State Ballet before joining San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer in 2007.