Margaret Tracey was born in Pueblo, Colorado, and began studying ballet with her mother, Nancy Tracey, at the age of six. She then went on to study at the School of American 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, Ms. Tracey joined the New York City Ballet corps 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 originated several roles in Peter Martins’ ballets; 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. Ms. Tracey danced the role of “Marzipan Shepherdess” in the film version of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, released in the winter of 1993. 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 and also developed a creative movement program which she teaches at pre-school level. Ms. Tracey is a 2011 recipient of the Jerome Robbins Award, awarded annually to an outstanding person or art institution. In 2007, Ms. Tracey was appointed director of the Boston Ballet School.