Byline: David Lyman

Maria Kowroski thought she had done it all, at least when it came to ballet. As a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, she'd danced "Swan Lake" and "Firebird" and "Serenade" and nearly every other notable work choreographed by company founder George Balanchine.

But then Peter Martins, the company's ballet master in chief, tossed something completely new at her.

He asked her to be Barbie.

Yes, that Barbie.

Barbie the doll, beloved of little girls, reviled by feminists. The one who's had hundreds of personae, from giggly teen to paleontologist and, in the process peddled more than a billion dolls since her debut in 1959.

"It was weird," says Kowroski, 27, a Grand Rapids native who is renowned as one of the ballet world's ablest and most elegant ballerinas. But not weird enough to make her turn her back on the role. Martins is an artist of impeccable taste. And ever since Kowroski joined the company at the age of 19, he has shepherded her meteoric career flawlessly.

"It just kind of happened _ he asked and I said `I'd love to,' " says Kowroski, a former member of the Grand Rapids Ballet who admits she had a couple of Barbie dolls when she was growing up. One was an ice-skating Barbie. The other? A ballerina Barbie, of course.

Now, before dance purists choke on their tea over the hallowed New York City Ballet committing its time and resources to a ballet about the doll with the impossible anatomy, a couple of things need to be clarified.

First, Martins did not create Barbie choreography for the company. He was commissioned to choreograph a new animated video, "Barbie of Swan Lake." (It's available on VHS and DVD for $19.98.)

Second, Kowroski is not seen on the screen. In fact, her name is mentioned only in the...