Maria Eichwald
Encyclopedia
Biography
Eichwald trained at the national ballet academy in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan before becoming a soloist dancer at the national theatre. Due to her German ancestry she moved to Germany in 1995. In 1996 she joined the National Theatre Munich where she became a principal dancer in 1999. In Munich she danced a variety of leading roles including Kitri in Don Quixote, Odette/Odile in Swan LakeSwan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
(Petipa), Tatiana and Olga in Onegin (Cranko), Marguerite Duval in Die Kameliendame (Neumeier) and Manon in Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
(Macmillan). In 2004, Eichwald caused a scandal in the press when she abrubtly left the company to accept an offer at the celebrated Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart Ballet was the first major German ballet company. It rose to fame in the 1960s under Artistic Director John Cranko. The company, which is renowned for presentations of full-length narrative ballets including Romeo and Juliet, Eugene Onegin, The Taming of the Shrew, John Neumeier's Die...
in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Since then, Eichwald has toured the world with the company and in 2005 danced opposite Paris Opera etoile Manuel Legris
Manuel Legris
Manuel Legris is a French ballet dancer, born in Paris on October 10, 1964. He was a star dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet for 23 years. Since September 1, 2010, he has directed the Vienna State Opera Ballet....
as Tatiana in Onegin (Cranko) on a tour of Asia. As of 2008, Eichwald continues to be an international ballet favorite among critics and audiences alike and is known for her exceptional skill and technique.