Margaret Tracey was born in Pueblo, Colorado, and began studying ballet with her mother, Nancy Tracey, at the age of six. In 1982, she came to New York City to study at the School of American Ballet, the official school of the New York City Ballet, where she was an Atlantic Richfield Foundation scholarship student for three years. While at the School, Ms. Tracey was one of fifteen scholars nationwide to receive the Princess Grace Foundation –U.S.A. award for 1985-86, in recognition of her “exceptional promise and dedication to excellence.” In May 1986, she joined the New York City Ballet corpse de ballet and was promoted to rank of Soloist during the spring season of 1989. She was promoted to the rank of Principal during the spring of 1991.
Ms. Tracey has been featured in such ballet’s such as George Balanchine’s Agon, Apollo, Ballo della Regina, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Chaconne, Concerto Barocco, Coppelia, Divertimento #15, Donizetti Variations, Harliquinade, Ivesiana (“The Unanswered Question” section), A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Nutcracker (“Sugar Plum Fairy” and “Dew Drop”), Serenade, Sonatine, La Source, Stars and Stripes, Symphony in C, Symphony in Three Movements, Tarantella, Tschiakovsky Pas de Deux, Tschiakovsky Suite No. 3 (“Theme and Variations”), Valse Fantaisie (1967 version), Vienna Waltzes, Western Symphony and Who Cares? Ms. Tracey originated a featured role in Jerome Robbins’ Ives, Songs, as well as danced in his Afternoon of a Faun, Andantino, The Four Seasons (“Spring”), and The Goldberg Variations. She has originated roles in Peter Martins’ Les Petite Riens, Mozart Serenade, Fearful Symmetries, Reliquary, Zakouski, and the role in the “Blueburd Pas de Deux” in The Sleeping Beauty, and also danced the role of Princess Aurora; Richard Tanner’s Sonatas and Interludes, and William Forsythe’s Herman Schmerman.
Ms. Tracey has toured with New York City Ballet in Europe and Asia, and has also appeared as a guest artist with the Royal Birmingham Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. Throughout her career, Ms. Tracey has been a guest performer with various concert groups traveling throughout the world. She danced the role of “Marzipan Shepherdess” in the film version of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, released in the winter of 1993. In addition to dancing, Ms. Tracey staged Martins’ Zakouski for the Bavarian State Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet, as well as his Fearful Symmetries for the Pennsylvania Ballet.
Since retiring from the New York City Ballet in February 2002, Ms. Tracey has been a guest teacher in New York and throughout the United States. In the summer of 2005, she joined faculty for the Boston Ballet School Summer Dance Program. For the last 10 years, she has also developed a creative movement program which she teaches at pre-school level.