Natalia Osipova

Superstar prima ballerina Natalia Osipova is one of the most celebrated dancers of the modern age, renowned the world over for her unique blend of flowless technique and dynamic, fluid and deeply charismatic emotional interpretations in both classical and contemporary dance (‘like a bolt from dance heaven’ – The Times).

A multi award-winning artist, Osipova is feted as much for her perfection in radical new dance drama as for her definitive interpretations of the great classical ballet roles, and is universally regarded as one of the most remarkable ballerinas of her generation.

In 2013 Osipova joined the Royal Ballet as a Principal after appearing as a Guest Artist the previous Season as Odette/Odile (Swan Lake) with Carlos Acosta. Her roles with the Company include Giselle (in which she created a sensation on her debut – ‘truly astonishing, a supernatural tour de force’ – The Guardian), Kitri (Don Quixote), Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty), Lise (La Fille mal gardée), Titania (The Dream), Marguerite (Marguerite and Armand), Juliet, Tatiana (Onegin), Manon, Sylvia, Mary Vetsera (Mayerling), Natalia Petrovna (A Month in the Country), Anastasia, Gamzatti and Nikiya (La Bayadère) and roles in Rhapsody, Serenade, Raymonda Act III, DGV: Danse à grande vitesse and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. She has created numerous roles – in woman with water, Strapless, Woolf Works, Tetractys, Connectome, Medusa and works by Possokhov and Ratmansky, among others.

She regularly appears as a guest artist with companies around the world, including La Scala and ABT in New York, to name just two. Since 2016 Sadlers Wells Theatre has commissioned two touring productions specifically for Natalia, “Natalia Osipova” (2016) and “Pure Dance (2018,) in which she appeared in a range of classical and contemporary pieces, some commissioned by and choreographed on her by the  most famous choreographers from Alexei Ratmansky, Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to Arthur Pita and Iván Pérez, among many others, and appearing alongside long-term partner David Hallberg as well as her fiancé, contemporary dancer and choreographer Jason Kittelberger.

Osipova’s numerous awards include Golden Masks for her performances in In the Upper Room (2008) and La Sylphide (2009), Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards (Best Female Dancer, 2007, 2010 and 2014), Positano Dance Awards (Best Female Dancer, 2008 and 2011) and a Benois de la Danse Award (Best Female Dancer, 2008), UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards (Outstanding Female Classical Performance – Giselle, 2022).

From 2018 Natalia has produced and presented two of her own shows, “Mother” (choreographer Arthur Pita) presented in Southbank Center London (2018), and “Carmen” (choreographer Didy Veldman) will be presented in Southbank Center London in May 2022.

In 2019 famous Australian choreographer Meryl Tankard together with Adelaide Festival re-created for Natalia a dance/drama production Two Feet, ““Two Feet […] is stark, tragic, dangerous and beautiful. […] Always a remarkable achievement by Meryl Tankard, as dancer-creator, and she’s refashioned it beyond imagining through this partnership with the marvellous Natalia Osipova” (Limelight Magazine)

In 2019 Osipova starred in the documentary film by Bafta winning director Gerry Fox – Force of Nature, giving an unparalleled glimpse into the working life of one of the world’s greatest artists, and in 2021 she produced the first-ever collection of ballet NFTs.