The Nutcracker Ballet

Guest Artists

Maria Kowroski ~ New York City Ballet Principal Dancer

Maria Kowroski was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she began her ballet training at age seven with the School of Grand Rapids Ballet. She entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in the fall of 1992, and two years later she became an apprentice with the Company. Maria was invited to join the corps de ballet in 1995, was promoted to soloist in 1997, and became a principal dancer in 1999.  Maria is a 1994 recipient of the Princess Grace Award recognizing emerging talent. In May 2002, Ms. Kowroski appeared in the Live From Lincoln Center broadcast of “New York City Ballet’s Diamond Project: Ten Years of New Choreography,” dancing in Them Twos and Red Angels, and in May 2004 she appeared in the Live From Lincoln Center broadcast of “Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine 100,” dancing in Concerto Barocco.

Tyler Angle ~ New York City Ballet Principal Dancer

Born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Tyler Angle began his dance training at the age of nine with Deborah Anthony at the Allegheny Ballet Company. After attending Summer Courses at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, he joined the School full time in the fall of 2001, where he studied on the Jerome Robbins Scholarship. Tyler performed a featured role in Michel Fokine’s Chopiniana for SAB’s 2003 Workshop Performances and then reprised this role onstage with the Company as an apprentice during the 2004 Winter Season. He joined the corps de ballet in June 2004, was promoted to soloist in 2007, and in 2009, Tyler was promoted to principal.
Tyler received the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise 2002 and the Martin Segal Award in 2003, honoring rising young artists for their exceptional accomplishments.

Sarah Lane ~ American Ballet Theatre Soloist Dancer

Born in San Francisco, California, Sarah Lane began her dance training in Memphis, Tennessee under the direction of Pat Gillespie at the Memphis Classical Ballet. When her family moved to Rochester, New York, she continued instruction with Timothy Draper and Jamey Leverett at the Draper Center for Dance Education.  When Lane was 16, she received a full scholarship to the Boston Ballet’s Summer Program. In 2000 and 2001, she was awarded first place and the Capezio Class Excellence Award at the North American Ballet Festival. Lane was the Silver Medalist, the highest medal in the Junior Division, at the Jackson International Ballet Competition (2002). During the competition, she flew to Washington, D. C. to perform at the Kennedy Center as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. That same year, Lane also won the Bronze Medal at the Youth America Grand Prix Competition.  Lane joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in August 2003 and became a member of the Company’s corps de ballet in April 2004 and was promoted to Soloist in August 2007. Her roles with the Company include a Shade in La Bayadère, Blossom in Cinderella, Amour and a flower girl in Don Quixote, Anne in Christopher Wheeldon’s VIII, the Two of Diamonds in Jeu de Cartes, the Chinese Dance in The Nutcracker, the Youngest Sister in Pillar of Fire, one of Juliet’s friends in Romeo and Juliet, Princess Aurora, Princess Florine and the Fairies of Charity and Joy in The Sleeping Beauty, the Polish Princess, a Little Swan and the pas de trois in Swan Lake, a Goat in Sylvia and leading roles in Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Glow-Stop, In the Upper Room, Kaleidoscope, Sinatra Suite and Theme and Variations.
Lane was a recipient of a 2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts and is a 2007 Princess Grace Award recipient.

Luis Ribagorda ~ American Ballet Theatre Dancer

Born in Madrid, Spain, Luis Ribagorda began his dance training at the age of seven at the Real Conservatorio Professional de Danza de Madrid where he studied classic, contemporary and Spanish dance and music with such renowned dance teachers as Victor Alvarez and Lázaro Carreño.
In May 2001 Ribagorda took part in the Castellón Contest where he won two scholarships to study with the Compañia Nacional de Danza 2 and the Nederlands Dans Theater II. In December of that year, he won first prize in the Junior Category at tha Zaragoza International Dance Contest.
In the summers of 2001 and 2002, Ribagorda was chosen to appear in the Europa Dance Project where he performed roles in George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, William Forsythe’s New Sleep, Nacho Duato’s Na Floresta, John Neumeier’s Petrouchka Variations, as well as Michel Fokine’s Petrouchka, Jirí Kylián’s Songs of a Wayfarer and Marius Petipa’s Raymonda and Don Quixote.
In November 2002, he took part in the Roseta Mauri International Dance Competition in Reus, Spain, winning a scholarship to The Royal Ballet School.  Ribagorda joined the Boston Ballet in 2003 as a member of the corps de ballet. His repertory with the company included soloist roles in Don Quixote, Stars and Stripes, The Nutcracker, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes and Swan Lake.  Ribogorda joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in August 2004. His repertory with the Company includes Wilfred in Giselle, a Fairy Knight in The Sleeping Beauty and roles in Amazed in Burning Dreams and From Here On Out.