Natalia Osipova

Natalia Petrovna Osipova (Наталья Петровна Осипова; born 18 May 1986) is a Russian ballerina, currently a principal ballerina with The Royal Ballet in London.

Born in Moscow, Osipova began formal ballet training at the age of nine at the Mikhail Lavrosky Ballet School.

From 1996 to 2004, she studied at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography (The Bolshoi Ballet Academy), under the tutelage of Marina Kotova and Marina Leonova.

At the age of 18, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet.

In 2005, she danced the role of Kitri in Alexei Fadeyechev's production of Don Quixote to critical acclaim and was promoted to soloist in 2006.

Osipova's debut as Kitri in Don Quixote on 7 November 2005 launched her solo career.

• Don Quixote: Kitri, 1st variation in Grand Pas, dryad/Four Dryads

• Swan Lake: Odette/Odile, The Spanish Bride

• La Bayadère: Nikiya, Gamzatti, 2nd variation(Trio of Shades)

• Giselle: Giselle, Peasant Pas de Deux

• La Sylphide: The Sylph, Nancy

• Romeo and Juliet: Juliet

• Coppélia: Swanilda

• Esmeralda: Esmeralda

• Flames of Paris: Jeanne

• Carmen Suite: Carmen

• The Sleeping Beauty: Princess Aurora, Cinderella

• Laurencia: Laurencia

• Le Corsaire: Medora, 3rd variation(Trio of Odalisques)

• Manon: Manon

• Lost Illusions: Coralie

• Notre Dame de Paris: Esmeralda

• La Fille Mal Gardée: Lise

She was named one of the 25 to Watch by Dance Magazine in 2007 and became a leading soloist in 2009.

In 2010, she became a principal dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet, but resigned in 2011, citing "artistic freedom" as her reason for leaving.

After leaving the Bolshoi, she joined American Ballet Theatre as a guest dancer for their Metropolitan Opera House season.

She danced Don Quixote with José Manuel Carreño, and both The Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet with David Hallberg.

A week before her performance in The Sleeping Beauty, she was robbed outside the Met, but suffered only minor bruises and was able to perform.

She lost only a pair of pointe shoes and a small hammer used to shape them.

In December 2011, she joined the Mikhailovsky Ballet.

In 2011, Osipova performed in Roy Assaf's Six Years Later, partnering 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.

On 8 April 2013, it was announced that Osipova would join The Royal Ballet as a principal dancer, having previously danced as a guest artist in Swan Lake.

She cited the broader and more diverse repertoire as her primary motivation for the move.

She debuted on 21 November 2013, in Romeo and Juliet, partnered by Carlos Acosta.

She has also danced in The Nutcracker and Giselle, with Acosta and Federico Bonelli.

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

In 2018, Osipova appeared with David Hallberg in Pure Dance, a refined ballet of Antony Tudor's The Leaves Are Fading from 1975.

In 2019, Osipova played the role of a mother in The Mother of Arthur Pita and in June 2019 she appeared in Gerald Fox's documentary film Force of Nature.

Osipova also performed with David Hallberg, dancing Giselle at Lincoln Center in New York.