Born in Moscow. In 1997, being a student of Moscow Choreographic Academy, where she studied under Sophia Golovkina, Alexandrova won a Gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow. In a very short time after that she joined the Bolshoi Ballet. Durig her first season at the Bolshoi theatre she was entrusted with solo parts. Next season she was promoted to soloist. In 2004, she became a principal dancer. It was for the first time when public declaration of promoting happened.
Her coach at the Bolshoi was Tatiana Golikova.
“Alexandrova’s Kitri is a spicy, carefree beauty any Basilio or Don would fight for, yet she is by no means a cheap tart, as some dancers prefer to think of the character. Perhaps untypical of the traditional Bolshoi dancer, but all the more characteristic of the new generation in this company, there was always enough classical polish to temper the bravura, preventing the ballet from turning into a mere display of continuous circus tricks”.
By Marc Haegeman
“The bright star among the soloists is certainly Maria Alexandrova, who infuses her perfectly shaped classical style with contemporary energy”.
By Anna Kisselgoff
Born in Moscow. In 1997, being a student of Moscow Choreographic Academy, where she studied under Sophia Golovkina, Alexandrova won a Gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow. In a very short time after that she joined the Bolshoi Ballet. Durig her first season at the Bolshoi theatre she was entrusted with solo parts. Next season she was promoted to soloist. In 2004, she became a principal dancer. It was for the first time when public declaration of promoting happened.
Her coach at the Bolshoi was Tatiana Golikova.
Main Repertory for Bolshoi Theatre
1997
Queen of the Ball (Fantasy on the Casanova Theme to music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mikhail Lavrovsky production)
1st variation in Grand Pas (Don Quixote; Yuri Grigorovich production)
Myrtha (Giselle; Vladimir Vasiliev version)
Maid of Honour (The Sleeping Beauty; Yuri Grigorovich production)
1998
A street dancer (Don Quixote)
Fairy of Generosity (The Sleeping Beauty)
Soloist (Dreams about Japan; choreography by Alexei Ratmansky)
1999
all the variations in The Shadows (La Bayadere; Yuri Grigorovich production)
Dryad/Three Dryads (Don Quixote)
Soloist Part 4 (Symphony in C) — creation at Bolshoi Theatre
Mazur (Chopiniana; choreography by Mikhail Fokine)
Horse (Rodion Shchedrin’s The Humpbacked Horse; choreography by Nikolai Androsov)
2000
The Empress (Russian Hamlet to music by Ludwig Van Beethoven and Gustav Mahler. Creation by Boris Eifman)
Kitri (Don Quixote; Alexei Fadeyechev production)
Ramze — creation, Congo (La Fille du Pharaon; production by Pierre Lacotte after Marius Petipa)
Gamzatti (La Bayadere)
2001
Eleventh Waltz (Chopiniana)
Friend to the Prince, Spanish Bride (Swan Lake; Yuri Grigorovich production)
2002
Aegina (Spartacus; choreography by Yuri Grigorovich)
Title role (La Sylphide; choreography by August Bournonville in a version by E.M. von Rosen)
2003
Balerina (Dmitry Shostakovich’s The Bright Stream; Alexei Ratmansky creation)
Clemence (Raymonda; Yuri Grigorovich production)
Esmeralda (Notre-Dame de Paris; Rolan Petit production)
Mekhmene Banu (Arif Melikov’s A Legend of Love; Yuri Grigorovich production)
Aspicia (La Fille du Pharaon )
Juliet (Romeo and Juliet; Declan Donnelan and Radu Poklitary creation)
2004
Lilac Fair (The Sleeping Beauty)
Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux
Leah (Leah to music by Leonard Bernstein; choreography by Alexei Ratmansky, second version)
Hermia (A Midnight’s Summer Dream; choreography by John Neumeier) — creation at Bolshoi Theatre
2005
Miller’s Wife (Manuel de Falla’s Le Tricorne. Choreography by Leonide Massine) — creation in Russia
Odette-Odile (Swan Lake)
Soloist (Igor Stravinsky’s Jeu de cards; Alexei Ratmansky creation)
Title role (Raymonda)
2006
Carmen (Carmen Suite; choreography by Alberto Alonso)
2007
Soloist (Misericordes to music by Arvo Part. Christopher Wheeldon creation)
Soloist (In the Upper Room. Music by Philip Glass. Choreography by Twyla Tharp)
Medora (Le Corsaire. Production and new choreography by Alexei Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka after Marius Petipa)
Class Concert (to music by different composers; choreography by Asaf Messerer)
Pupil (Georges Delerue’s The Lesson; choreography by Flemming Flindt)
2008
Jeanne (Boris Asfiev’s The Flames of Paris. Production and new choreography by Alexei Ratmansky after Vasily Vainonen) — creation
Variation (was among the creators of the ballet), Paquita (Paquita. Staging and new choreographic version by Yuri Burlaka)
2009
Swanilda (Coppelia. Choreography by Marius Petipa and Enrico Cecchetti; revival and new choreographic version by Sergei Vikharev) — creation at the Bolshoi Theatre
Nikia (La Bayadere)
Esmeralda (Esmeralda by Cesare Pugni, choreography by Marius Petipa, staging and new choreographic version by Yuri Burlaka and Vasily Medvedev) — creation
2010
Countess (La Dame de Pique to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Rolan Petit production)
DVD: Bel air Media
La fille du pharaon
in the part of Ramze
released in 2004
Tours
In 1997, she appeared in a gala concert of Russian ballet stars, dedicated to Sergei Diaghilev, at New York’s Lincoln Center: together with Nikolai Tsiskaridze she danced the Grand Classical Pas to music by Daniel Auber (choreography Viktor Gzovsky).
In 2000, she took part in a gala concert of ballet stars in Madrid (partner Igor Iebra).
In 2001, she danced the lead roles in Don Quixote, with Bolshoi Theatre soloist Mark Peretokhin, at the Bashkir Theatre of Opera and Ballet, as part of the Rudolf Nureyev International Festival of Ballet.
In the same year, she danced the Soloist Part 1 in Between Sky and Earth (choreography Trey McIntyre) at the Alexey Fadeyechev Theatre of Dance and she created the role of Kitri in the Moskva Russian Chamber Ballet production of Don Quixote (Mikhail Lavrovsky version).
In 2001-02, she danced Myrtha in a series of performances of Giselle with star casts (Julia Makhalina, Diana Vishneva, Vladimir Malakhov, Igor Zelensky) at the Athens Megaron Concert Hall.
In 2002, she took part in a gala concert accompanying the opening ceremony of a new theatre in the city of Apollo (USA). Her partner — Nikolai Tsiskaridze.
In 2003, with the Malakhov & Friends enterprise, she participated in gala concerts in Athens at the Megaron Concert Hall and she also appeared at the International Festival of Ballet in Japan (in both cases her partner was Sergei Filin). She later took part several times in the Malakhov & Friends program.
In 2007, she appeared at the 7th Mariynsky International Festival of Ballet as Gamzatti in Bayadere (choreography Marius Petipa re-produced by Vladimir Ponomaryov and Vakhtang Chabukiani; Nikia — Ulyana Lopatkina, Solor — Nikolai Tsisikaridze); in the final gala concert she danced the pas de deux from Swan Lake (partner Mariynsky Theatre soloist Igor Kolb);
She also took part in a gala concert in honor of Maya Plisetskaya at the Teatro Real, Madrid.
In 2008, she danced Odette-Odile in Swan Lake (choreography Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, re-produced by Konstantin Sergeyev) under the auspices of the 8th Mariynsky International Festival of Ballet (partner — Mariynsky Theatre soloist Danil Korsuntsev);
She twice appeared in gala concerts at the International Rudolf Nureyev Festival of Classical Ballet (Kazan), dancing the Classical pas de deux to music by Daniel Auber (partner Bolshoi Theatre principal Dmitry Gudanov);
Under the auspices of the lst Siberian Festival of Ballet, she took part in Novosibirsk State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet productions, dancing Gamzatti (La Bayadere revised by Igor Zelensky; Solor — artistic director of the Novosibirsk Theatre of Opera and Ballet Igor Zelensky, Nikia — Novosibirsk Theatre of Opera and Ballet soloist Anna Zharova; Dresden Semperoper soloist Yelena Vostrotina) and making her debut as Princess Aurore (Sleeping Beauty in a version by Konstantin Sergeyev, re-produced by Sergei Vikharev; Prince Desire — Zurich Opera Ballet Company soloist Semyon Chudin);
She appeared in Paris in the title role of Raymonda (choreography Marius Petipa re-produced by Rudolf Nureyev) with the Paris National Opera Ballet Company (Jean de Brienne — Bolshoi Theatre principal Alexander Volchkov).
In 2009, in Novosibirsk, with the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Company, she appeared in Swan Lake (re-produced by Konstantin Sergeyev, Vladimir Burmeister) and Don Quixote (Sergei Vikharev production), dancing Odette-Odile (Prince Siegfried ЁC Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Company soloist Roman Polkovnikov) and Kitri (Basil — Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Company soloist Maxim Gishenkov);
under the auspices of the Russian Seasons 21 Century project she created the role of Armide in Nikolai Cherepnin’s Le Pavillon d’Armide (producer Andris Liepa, choreography Jurijus Smoriginas).
Awards
In 1997, she won 1st prize at International Ballet Competition in Moscow.
In 1999, she received Soul of Dance Prize in the category “Rising Stars” from Ballet Magazine.
In 2004, she became a recipient of The Golden Mask Award for her performance in The Bright Stream.
In 2005, she was awarded the title of Merited Artist of the Russian Federation.
In 2009, she was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation.
© Bolshoi Theatre
© Photo by Damir Yusupov, Mikhail Logvinov, Andrei Melanyin, Nadezhda Bausova