Maria Khoreva
Ulyana Lopatkina
Evgenia Obraztsova
Natalia Osipova
Oksana Skorik
Alina Somova
Diana Vishneva
Svetlana Zakharova
Galina Ulanova
Ekaterina Maximova
Maya Plisetskaya
Bolshoi
Q&A and Tips
Acknowlegdments
​Principal dancer with the Royal Ballet and Mikhailovsky Theatre
Natalia was born in Moscow in 1986. She started dancing when she was five, and three years later, she was accepted to the Mikhail Lavrosky Ballet School. At age nine, she enrolled in the Moscow State Academy of Choreography (commonly known as the Bolshoi Ballet Academy) and after graduating she joined the Bolshoi Ballet company. She became a principal dancer in 2010. In 2011 she decided to leave the Bolshoi and to join the Mikhailovsky Ballet as a principal. She says that she left the Bolshoi because she wanted more "artistic freedom". After leaving the Bolshoi, she performed several times as a principal guest artist with the American Ballet Theatre in New York (once, she was mugged outside of the theatre just before a performance!) She joined the Royal Ballet in 2013 as a principal. She is well known worldwide and has guested in many international theatres.
2008 - Golden Mask awards for her performances in In the Upper Room and La Sylphide
2007, 2010, 2014 - Critics' Circle National Dance Awards (Best Female Dancer)
​2008 - Benois de la Danse Award (Best Female Dancer)
https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/ballet-dancers-natalia-osipova-david-hallberg-enduring-stage-partnership
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/10662694/Natalia-Osipova-I-have-never-lost-the-feeling-of-flying.html
https://www.russianartandculture.com/natalia-osipova-there-is-a-lot-of-my-own-self-in-my-characters/
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/may/08/natalia-osipova-and-sergei-polunin-interview
My favourite videos
​Why do I love Natalia?
Both Natalia's technical and expressive sides are beautiful.
She can inhabit any role perfectly, from the explosive Kitri to the weak, heartbroken Giselle.
Her incredible turns and jumps are just amazing and so shocking to watch. I think that in a technical sense, she is one of the strongest dancers that have ever lived, making the audience breathless with her skill - she is a true ballet virtuosa.
She has a very special dramatic and artistic quality that makes her unique.
She uses her whole body to express herself; her arms, her face and smile, her gestures...
​She is an incredible ballerina!
Natalia's best photos