Maria Eichwald

Dancer

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. 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 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 at a benefit gala, in the same year she danced at the “Gala Les Etoiles du XXme Siècle” in Paris together with Alen Bottaini. For her interpretations of the title role in Manon (Kenneth MacMillan) and of Kitri in Don Quijote (Marius Petipa) she was nominated for the Prix Benois 2002. 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 has joined the Stuttgart Ballet on tours all around the world and is a highly sought-after guest at international galas and ballet companies.

In 2006 she was named in the category “Outstanding Dancer” in the critics’ choice of the maagzine ballettanz for the role of Olimpia which Christian Spuck created on her in The Sandman. In the years 2010 and 2011 namings in this category followed for the leading role in Siebte Sinfonie (Uwe Scholz) and for Tatiana in John Cranko’s Onegin which she danced at the Scala in Milan. In April 2012 the XI. St. Peterburg International Ballet Award Dance Open took place and Maria Eichwald who was dancing a Pas de deux from John Cranko’s The Taming of the Shrew with Filip Barankiewicz was awarded “Ms Expressivity“. In June 2012 Maria Eichwald was invited to the Nurejev-Gala at the Vienna State Ballet and danced – together with artistic director Manuel Legris – as Pas de deux from John Cranko’s Onegin.

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