Born in Moscow, Russia, Maria Kochetkova trained at the Bolshoi School in Moscow and danced with The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet before joining San Francisco Ballet as a Principal Dancer in 2007 and becoming Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theatre in 2015.

Kochetkova’s highlighted repertoire includes Nikiya in La Bayadère, Kitri in Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake with American Ballet Theatre as well as McGregor’s Borderlands. 

Kochetkova was nominated for the UK Critics’ Circle Dance Award Best Female Dancer in 2014 and a Prix Benois de la Danse for her performance as Tatiana in Cranko’s Onegin in 2013. In 2009, she was awarded the gold medal on National Broadcasting Company’s Superstars of Dance. She also won many international ballet competitions, including “Ballerina of the Year” award at Positano Premia La Danza "Léonide Massine" in 2017, a silver medal and the jury prize at Varna International Ballet Competition and a silver medal at the Prix de Lausanne competition in 2002.

Photographer: Chris Hardy

Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Golding graduated from The Royal Ballet School with honours in 2003 and joined American Ballet Theatre that same year. He joined Dutch National Ballet in 2009, became a Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet in 2014 and retired in 2017. He is currently a Guest Principal Dancer at Dutch National Ballet and Bavarian State Ballet.

His repertoire highlights include Solor in Natalia Markarova’s La Bayadère, Romeo in Rudi van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet, Basilio in Alexei Ratmansky’s Don Quixote and Prince in Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella and Peter Wright’s The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. Golding regularly guest performs worldwide, including Mariinsky Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, The National Ballet of Canada, Hong Kong Ballet and English National Ballet and at international ballet festivals.

Golding received the Dutch Zwaan Award in 2010, the Alexandra Radius Prize in 2011 and nominations for the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2012 and 2013. He also won the Youth America Grand Prix Ballet Competition and the Prix de Lausanne in 2002.

Photographer: Erwin Olaf