Principal Dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet

   Maria Eichwald was born in Talgar, Kazakhstan. She received her first ballet training at the National Ballet School in Alma-Ata. After her graduation she joined the National Ballet of Kazakhstan where she was soon promoted to Principal Dancer. She danced Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Marie in Nutcracker as well as the title roles in Paquita and Carmen. In 1994 she moved to Germany and danced in the ballet company of the Theatre Krefeld-Mönchengladbach in the Corps de ballet and later as Soloist until 1996. At the beginning of the season 1996/97 she joined the Bavarian State Ballet Munich as Soloist. In 1999 she was promoted to Principal Dancer.

   With the Bavarian State Ballet Maria Eichwald danced major leading roles in full-length ballets like Tatjana in Onegin, the female title role in Romeo and Juliet, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake (all: John Cranko), Nikija in La Bayadère (Patrice Bart after Marius Petipa), Kitri in Don Quixote (Marius Petipa), Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Marguerite Gautier in The Lady of the Camellias as well as the title roles in A Cinderella Story (all: John Neumeier), Giselle (Peter Wright after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa) and Manon (Kenneth MacMillan). Her repertoire also includes Olga in Onegin, Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew (both: John Cranko), Olympia in The Lady of the Camellias (John Neumeier), Lescaut’s Beloved in Manon (Kenneth MacMillan), the Blue Bird’s Princess in The Sleeping Beauty (Ivan Liška after Marius Petipa) and solo roles in Raymonda (Marius Petipa) and Paquita (Joseph Mazilier). Furthermore she danced the Pas de Quatre (Leonid Jacobson), the Third Movement in Symphony in C, the Brahms-Schönberg Quartet and in Who cares? (all: George Balanchine) as well as solo roles in The Second Detail (William Forsythe), In the Night (Jerome Robbins), Bella Figura (Jirí Kylián), Dämmern, In the Blue Garden and Jupiter-Sinfonie (John Neumeier).

   With the Bavarian State Ballet Maria Eichwald guested all around the world. In the season 2000/01 she was invited by Alicia Alonso to dance with the Cuban National Ballet. In June 2001 she danced the Pas de deux Diana und Acteon (Aggripina Vaganova) and the Grand Pas Classique (Victor Gsovsky) at a benefit gala. In the same year she danced at the “Gala Les Etoiles du XXme Siècle” in Paris together with Alen Bottaini. During a dancers’ exchange she danced the title role in Manon (Kenneth MacMillan) at the Royal Danish Ballet (April 2003).

   In January 2004 Maria Eichwald joined the Stuttgart Ballet as Principal Dancer. She had already performed with the Stuttgart Ballet as a guest, appearing as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Tatjana in Onegin (both: John Cranko). In Stuttgart Maria Eichwald added the following roles to her repertoire: Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew (John Cranko), the title role in Giselle (Production: Reid Anderson, Valentina Savina), Aurora and the Blue Bird’s Princess in The Sleeping Beauty (Márcia Haydée after Marius Petipa), Blanche du Bois in A Streetcar named Desire (John Neumeier), and the title role in Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy (Christian Spuck). She has also danced Sanguinic in The Four Temperaments, the leading roles in Theme and Variations (both: George Balanchine), The Song of the Earth (Kenneth MacMillan) and Siebte Sinfonie (Uwe Scholz) as well as further solo roles in Voluntaries (Glen Tetley), Serenade (George Balanchine), Hikarizatto (Itzik Galili) and Return to a strange Land (Jiří Kylián). Christian Spuck created the role of Olimpia in his full-length ballet The Sandman especially for Maria Eichwald.

   She has joined the Stuttgart Ballet on tours all around the world and is a highly sought-after guest at international galas and ballet companies.

Photo: die arge lola, Kai Loges + Andreas Langen