In 1979, while on tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in Los Angeles, Ms. Kozlova
defected. Thereafter Ms. Kozlova pursued a career as a guest artist and
also performed with the Australian Ballet.
While a principal dancer of the Australian Ballet, Ms. Kozlova danced
principal roles in Serge Lifar's SUITE EN BLANC, Jerome Robbins' AFTERNOON
OF A FAUN, Glen Tetley's THE RITE OF SPRING, and the title role in Roland
Petit's CARMEN, the title role in Andre Prokovsky's ANNA KARENINA, the
Queen in Prokovsky's THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and Juliet in John Cranko's
ROMEO AND JULIET. She also co-staged a production of THE NUTCRACKER for
the Australian Ballet.
In 1982 Ms. Kozlova made her Broadway debut as Vera Baronova in the
revival of ON YOUR TOES, which featured George Balanchine's SLAUGHTER ON
TENTH AVENUE ballet.
In 1983 Ms. Kozlova joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer
and danced with the company until 1995. Ms. Kozlova expanded her
repertoire to include principal roles in the Balanchine ballets, APOLLO,
DAVIDSBUNDLERTANZE, SERENADE, SYMPHONY IN C, LIEBESLIEDER WALZER, JEWELS
(Emeralds), FIREBIRD, the Sugar Plum Fairy in THE NUTCRACKER, and Titania
in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. Ms. Kozlova appeared in the world premieres
of Robert LaFosse's WOODLAND SKETCHES, Richard Tanner's ANCIENT AIRS AND
DANCES, Helgi Tomasson's BALLET D'ISOLINE, and Eliot Feld's THE UNANSWERED
QUESTION. She also danced the role of Aurora in Peter Martins' production
of THE SLEEPING BEAUTY.
Ms. Kozlova has appeared as a guest artist with La Scala, the Rome Opera
Ballet, Florence Opera Ballet, English National Ballet, the Basel Ballet,
the Hong Kong Ballet, Ballet de Santiago, the Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires,
Argentina), the International Ballet of Caracas, and the Ballet of
Novosibirsk during that company's tour of Argentina.
Ms. Kozlova has also appeared in ballet galas in Greece, England, Italy,
Portugal, Spain, the Le Don des Etoiles in Canada and has participated in
tours of Taiwan and Korea.
Her performances on video include PAVLOVA SPECIAL (CBS), Heinz Spoerli's
LA FILLE MAL GARDEE with the Basel Ballet (Phillips Video, Germany), and
Yuri Grigorovitch's SPARTACUS (VEAR Prod., Argentina).
Due to Glastnost, Ms. Kozlova was afforded a triumphant return to Moscow
in 1991 at the Kremlin Palace which was covered by NBC News. Ms. Kozlova
returned to Moscow in 1992 to premiere the new solo, BLUE ANGEL, created
for Ms. Kozlova by Margo Sappington.
In 1995 Ms. Kozlova and Margo Sappington established The Daring Project, a
ballet company dedicated to performing new works. This collaboration
continues to produce new works for Ms. Kozlova which have been performed
on national and international tours. Ms. Sappington choreographed a new
pas de deux CALLING in 1999 to mark the 20th anniversary of Ms. Kozlova's
defection from the Soviet Union.
Ms. Kozlova also continues to pursue her career as a guest artist and
master teacher. |
