Maria Kowroski

Artistic Director / Ballet

MARIA KOWROSKI was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she began her ballet training at age seven with the School of Grand Rapids Ballet. Ms. Kowroski entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in the fall of 1992. She became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in the summer of 1994 and was invited to join the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in January of 1995. In the spring of 1997, Ms. Kowroski was promoted to the rank of soloist and in the spring of 1999, she was promoted to principal dancer.

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Ms. Kowroski has danced many principal roles in the Balanchine repertory including, Agon, Apollo, Concerto Barocco, Mozartiana, Diamonds, Rubies and Emeralds from Jewels, Prodigal Son, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Chaconne and Bugaku. Ms. Kowroski has had the pleasure of being created on by several choreographers including Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon, Mauro Bigonzetti, Justin Peck, Peter Martins, Boris Eifman, and Helgi Tomasson. She has also had the great privilege of working with the great choreographers Alexei Ratmansky and William Forsythe. Ms. Kowroski was a guest artist with the Mariinsky ballet performing Swan Lake in 2003, a mixed Balanchine program in 2006 and 2019. In 1994 Ms. Kowroski was the recipient of the Princess Grace Award and in 2011 she received the Jerome Robbins award.

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Ms. Kowroski became Acting Artistic Director of New Jersey Ballet in November 2021 and Artistic Director in September 2022.

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Edward Villella

Special Artist

SARAH LANE began her dance training in Memphis, Tennessee at the Memphis Classical Ballet and later at the Draper Center for Dance Education in Rochester, New York. She joined American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company in 2002, joining the main company as an apprentice in 2003 and the corps de ballet in April 2004. She rose to soloist in 2007 and principal in 2017, dancing principal roles in Manon, Giselle, Swan Lake, La Bayadère, Coppélia, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Theme and Variations, and Whipped Cream, among others. Lane has performed as an international guest artist with Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Teatro dell’ Opera di Roma, Kremlin Ballet, Barcelona Ballet, NBA Ballet Company and Hong Kong Ballet. Lane is also an international guest ballet teacher and an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. She has worked as a guest rehearsal director for American Repertory Ballet and as the Director of the School of Ballet RI.

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David Tamaki

Executive Director

DAVID TAMAKI began his formal training at New Jersey School of Ballet at age 7 and became a member of the NJB Junior Company in 1998. A year later he joined the company and during his career danced principal roles, which included the Champion Roper in Rodeo, the Prince and Trepak in Nutcracker, Romeo in Romeo & Juliet and Le Corsair pas de deux to name a few.

Mr. Tamaki is Executive Director for New Jersey Ballet. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Mary’s College of California where he graduated summa cum laude and holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from Columbia University. Mr. Tamaki also leads NJ Ballet’s Dancing for Parkinson’s program, which provides free weekly dance classes to individuals with Parkinson’s disease, and is a Stanley J. Wertheimer Fellow.

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