Born in Moscow, Russia, Maria Kochetkova trained at the Bolshoi School in Moscow and danced with The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, and as a guest artist with Tokyo Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, and Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg before joining San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer in 2007. Since then, she has performed principal roles in works such as Tomasson’s Giselle, Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, and Nutcracker; as well as Swanilda in Balanchine’s Coppélia. Kochetkova has created principal roles in Possokhov’s Diving into the Lilacs, Raymonda Pas de Deux, and Classical Symphony; Tomasson’s On a Theme of Paganini and Trio, and Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour and Number Nine. Her repertory also includes Ashton’s Symphonic Variations; Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, “Emeralds”, “Rubies”, and Theme and Variations; Elo’s Double Evil; Forsythe’s Artifact Suite and in the middle, somewhat elevated; MacMillan’s Winter Dreams; McGregor’s Chroma; Morris’ Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes and Sandpaper Ballet; Possokhov’s Fusion; and Ratmansky’s Russian Seasons. Kochetkova’s honors include gold medals at the International Ballet Competitions in Korea and Italy in 2005; a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition of Luxembourg in 2003; a silver medal and the jury prize at the Varna International Ballet Competition in 2002; a silver medal at the Prix de Lausanne that same year; and a bronze medal at Moscow International Competition in 2001. In December 2008, she was featured as the Grand Pas de Deux Ballerina in the PBS Great Performances broadcast of Tomasson’s Nutcracker, co-produced by San Francisco Ballet and KQED Public Television San Francisco, in association with Thirteen/WNET New York. In 2009, Kochetkova appeared on NBC’s “Superstars of Dance,” where she was awarded the gold medal.