Maria Jacobs-Yu, now Principal dancer, joined Cleveland Ballet as a trainee in 1996 and is in her 13th season of dancing under Artistic Director, Dennis Nahat.

Maria's first principal role in her first season in the company was the role of "Maria" in Nahat's Nutcracker. One highlight of Maria's career was having the great opportunity to be coached by Cynthia Gregory for the role of Odette/Odile in Nahat's production of Swan Lake. Among the favorites in Maria's repertoire, are dancing the role of Juliet, in Romeo and Juliet, the title role in Giselle, and the title role of The Firebird, created especially for her by Nahat.

Among other roles that Maria has been featured in, include the principal female in George Balanchine's Theme and Variations, the Waltz Girl in Balanchine's Serenade, the principal girl in Flemming Flindt's The Toreador, and Tsarina Tatiana in Nahat's Nutcracker.

Maria has also had the opportunity to teach and dance internationally. She was featured as a guest artist in Seoul, Korea and Osaka, Japan dancing the Coppelia pas de deux and Balanchine's Tchaikovsky pas de deux. Maria was also spotlighted in the March '07 issue of Pointe Magazine as a dancer to watch. Maria also toured with the company to China in the summer of 2008 and performed the title role in The Firebird in 8 cities including Shanghai and Beijing.

Maria dedicates this season to her new husband as of 11/29/2008, Dr. Benjamin Yu. Because of your love, all my dreams have come true.