Natalia Osipova: The Russian Powerhouse

Introduction

Natalia Osipova performing
"Swan Lake" at the Royal Ballet and Opera
in March 2020.
Photo credits: Andre @dancersdiary

    Natalia Osipova is a well-regarded dancer in the twenty-first-century ballet scene. She is best known for her ability to merge the classic technique of Russian ballet with the modern ballet world in European cultures. Osipova has taken a place on the international stage with the Royal Ballet in London, allowing her to curate the type of ballerina she wants to be known for. I chose her as my dancer because she defies the rules of partnering and dancing a Pas de Deux. Her strength and skills push what a ballerina can do showing the raw emotions and feelings behind every role she takes onto the stage. The way she thinks on her feet allows the choreography to feel as if it is happening then and there while she is on stage, not pre-planned steps that she has spent hours practicing. She uses big turns, powerful leaps, and captivating expressions to create an image of her flying across the stage in any given performance. I was drawn to her creative freedom and expression and that is what continues to draw me into her artistry. Natalia Osipova will be remembered in ballet history for pushing the limits of what technique and emotion can do when influenced by each other to make a performance more powerful than imagined. 

Biographical Information

Natalia Osipova at the Royal Ballet
and Opera rehearsing "Swan Lake" in March 2020.
Photo credits: Andre @dancersdiary

    In Moscow, Russia on the 18th of May 1986, Natalia Osipova was born. She grew up in Moscow, Russia, and did not go to school like we do in the United States. Osipova’s early life was that of training for gymnastics as soon as she was an acceptable age to do so. Her career began as a gymnast at the age of five competing until she was told to stop due to an injury in 1993. Her coaches then guided her towards ballet training programs where she would likely have a successful career if she completed the rigorous training programs in Moscow. Osipova started at the Mikhail Lavrosky Ballet School at age eight. Then she joined The Moscow State Academy of Choreography in 1995 so that she could deepen her ballet training. Her most influential ballet master was Marina Leonova, Natalia studied under Leonova for the next nine years to become one of the best Russian ballerinas in the 21st century. While still in the Academy Natalia Osipova won the “Grand Prix” at the International Ballet Competition in April 2003 in Luxemburg, by dancing variations of “La Bayadere”, “Don Quixote”, and “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux”. She graduated from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography in 2004, officially completing her years of ballet school.   

Career Highlights

Upon Natalia Osipova’s graduation in 2004, she was immediately offered a position in the Corps de Ballet for the Bolshoi Theater located in Moscow, Russia. She was coached by Ludmilla Semenyaka and Marina Kondratieva while at the Bolshoi Theatre. Her career was ignited by her debut as Kitri in “Don Quixote” on the 7th of November 2005, by portraying the classic with a new sense of energy that had yet to be seen on stage. Her repertoire with the Bolshoi Theatre earned her international awards such as the prize “Rising Star” (Moscow), “Female Dancer of the Year” (Berlin), the Richard Sherrington Award for Best Female Dancer (UK), the Golden Mask for Best Female Dancer (Italy), and the Positano Dance Award Leonide Massine (Italy). On the 18th of October Osipova was promoted to Leading Soloist and on the 1st of May 2010 to Principal Dancer of the Bolshoi Theatre. At the recommendation of Nina Ananiashvili in 2009 Natalia Osipova became a guest ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre in New York. Her time there was spent performing leading roles like “Giselle”, “La Sylphide”, “Don Quixote”, Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet”, and Aurora in “Sleeping Beauty” at the Metropolitan Opera. The biggest accomplishment made at ABT was after she became a principal dancer with the company and created the title role in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird. On an international scale, her career grew with performances at the Grand Opera in Paris and La Scala in Milan in 2010. Also performing at the Royal Opera House in London and collaborating with the Bavarian State Ballet dancing choreography by John Cranko. In December 2012, Natalia Osipova became an invited soloist at the Royal Ballet in London, and finally, in April 2013 a permanent contract was signed to make Osipova a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. She remains a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet to this day. 

Natalia Osipova practicing "Giselle" at the
Royal Ballet and Opera in October 2021.
Photo credits: Andre @dancersdiary

Natalia Osipova performing "Don Quixote" at the Met Opera House.
Photo credit: Gene Schiavone

Three Interesting Facts 

Natalia Osipova has a lot of remarks made about her and she often takes those remarks as a challenge. The most notable is that other dancers would refuse to partner with her for fear of being knocked over. In an interview with “The Standard” Osipova grins as she admits “I’ve got a strong energy on stage so if I’m in a rush I can sort of knock them over." I find this amazing that she is such a strong female dancer that she can knock men off their feet, literally. Others love her spontaneity on stage and when she connects with her partner the dancing is exceptional to watch. Another interesting fact is that although she was in a position in the corps, she was also given solo parts alongside her corps roles. Her most notable roles at this time were the Peasant pas de deux in “Giselle” with Vyacheslav Lopatin and a lead in “Bolero” created by Alexei Ratmansky. Osipova didn’t even make it a year before she was dancing solos on stage and taking the audience’s breath away. As well Natalia’s Kitri had even been promoted to classic status before she became a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet. Her drive and artistry were honed so long before she moved up in the ranks of the Bolshoi Ballet Company. A final fun fact would be that Natalia Osipova was the only guest ballerina invited to perform at the gala concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The respect she has acquired through the years of her dancing is so large that the late Queen of England chose for her to be the only ballerina performing at the Diamond Jubilee. 

Natalia Osipova and William Bracewell performing
together at the Royal Ballet and Opera house in July 2024. 

 

Conclusion

Natalia Osipova performing
"The Nutcracker" in December 2019.
Photo Credits: Anton Zavyalov

    Natalia Osipova is one of the best ballerinas of the 21st century. She started as a gymnast and is now an internationally renowned ballerina which just shows her out-of-this-world talent, relentless drive, and large contributions to the art of ballet. The reason I chose Osipova is because of the interview with “The Standard” where she broke boundaries within the ballet world, pushing what can be achieved in a Pas de Deux both technically and emotionally. She rose from a corps de ballet dancer with the Bolshoi Theatre to a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Theatre, American Ballet Theater, and the Royal Ballet. Osipova’s energy, strength, and spontaneity on stage in iconic roles of her like Kitri in “Don Quixote”, Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet”, and her title role in The Firebird have put her in the center of audiences’ hearts. Today Osipova continues to be a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London. Her legacy will be rooted in her groundbreaking achievements both technically and emotionally on stage and in the practice rooms. I believe she will influence the next generations of ballerinas to keep pushing the limits of ballet and find what makes their artistry their own. Natalia Osipova has made her mark in the ballet world that will be remembered throughout history.

Works Cited 

Byrne, Emma. “Natalia Osipova Interview: ‘Some Dancers Would Refuse to Partner Me — I’d Knock Them Over’ | London Evening Standard.” The Standard, 11 June 2019, www.standard.co.uk/culture/natalia-osipova-interview-royal-ballet-sergei-polunin-a4152626.html.

Haegeman, Marc. “For Ballet Lovers Only :: Biographies :: Natalia Osipova.” Marc Haegeman, www.for-ballet-lovers-only.com/osipova110.html.

Natalia Osipova. www.rbo.org.uk/people/natalia-osipova.

Natalia Osipova - Dancer -  BolshoiRussia.com. www.bolshoirussia.com/company/ballet/dancer/natalia_osipova.

Natalia Osipova: Becoming a Swan. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.

Natalya Osipova Biography. Ballerina. biographs.org/natalya-osipova.

Stahl, Jennifer. “The Prince and The Powerhouse.” Dance Magazine, no. Vol. 92 no.1, Jan. 2019, pp. 112–15.