Natalia Osipova

At 37 years old, Natalia Osipova has this physical status:

Natalia Petrovna Osipova (born 18 May 1986) is a Russian ballerina currently active as a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet in London.

Early life and training

Osipova, a native of Moscow, began formal ballet lessons at the Mikhail Lavrosky Ballet School at the age of nine. Marina Kotova and Marina Leonova's tutelage took her from 1996 to 2004 at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography (The Bolshoi Ballet Academy).

Personal life

Osipova immigrated to London in 2013; she is a naturalised British citizen. She used to have dancers Ivan Valiantev, to whom she was engaged, and Sergei Polunin. Osipova is engaged to American dancer Jason Kittelberger. They and their four dogs live in north London.

She contracted COVID-1921 and March 2022; she died in December 2021 and March 2022.

Source

Career

She joined the Bolshoi Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet at the age of 18. She performed Kitri in Alexei Fadeyechev's production of Don Quixote to critical acclaim in 2005 and was promoted to soloist in 2006. She was named one of the Top 25 People to Watch by Dance Magazine in 2007 and then became a leading soloist in 2009. She trained as a principal dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet in 2010, but resigned in 2011, citing "artistic liberty" as the reason for her departure.

After leaving the Bolshoi, she joined American Ballet Theatre as a guest dancer for their Metropolitan Opera House season. José Manuel Carote performed Don Quixote, José Manuel Carno, and David Hallberg's Both The Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet. She was robbed outside the Met but had only minor bruises and was able to continue performing a week before her appearance in The Sleeping Beauty, but she was only able to perform. She only had two pair of pointe shoes and a tiny hammer was used to shape them. She joined the Mikhailovsky Ballet in December 2011.

Osipova appeared in Roy Assaf's Six Years Later, collaborating with Jason Kittelberger and the same year danced in Valse Triste by Alexei Ratmansky. The season then continued with her appearances in various solo performances, including in Ludwig van Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Yuka Oishi's Ave Maria.

Osipova will appear in The Royal Ballet as a principal dancer on April 8, 2013, having performed as a guest artist in Swan Lake before. She cited the wide and more varied repertoire as her primary motive for the move. She debuted in Romeo and Juliet on November 21, 2013, partnered by Carlos Acosta. She has performed in The Nutcracker and Giselle as well as Acosta and Federico Bonelli.

In 2016, she appeared in Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia/Anna Anderson in a Anastasia.

Osipova performed in Pure Dance, a narrated ballet of Antony Tudor's The Leaves Are Fading, which took place in 2018.

In 2019, Osipova played a mother in The Mother of Arthur Pita, and in June 2019, she appeared in Gerald Fox's documentary film Force of Nature. At the Lincoln Center in New York, Osipova also appeared with David Hallberg, dancing Giselle.

Source

Awards

• Grand Prix at Prix de Luxembourg International Ballet Competition (2003)
• 3rd Prize at Moscow International Ballet Competition (2005)
• Ballet Magazine Soul of Dance Prize in the category Rising Star (2007)
• Leonide Massine Award in the category of Significance of Talent (2008)
• The International Dance Association Prix Benois de la Danse Award for performances in La Sylphide, Giselle, Le Corsaire and The Flames of Paris (2008)
• Richard Sherrington Award (2008)
• The Golden Mask award for performances in Twyla Tharp's In The Upper Room (2008) and La Sylphide (2009)
• Special Prize of The Golden Mask jury for Best Duet in La Sylphide (2009)
• UK National Dance Awards presented by The Critics' Circle: Best Female Dancer (2007, 2010 and 2014)