NATALIA OSIPOVA

Perfectly imperfect

By Vikki Jane VILE

In the traditional world of ballet, Natalia Osipova is a small, but powerful firecracker. She is somewhat of an enigma, joining The Royal Ballet as a Principal in 2013, there is still the same frisson of excitement in the auditorium prior to one of her performances today as there was over ten years ago. A woman of few words off the stage, you never quite know what you’re going to get, only that it will be a thrill.

Last year she revealed on Instagram she had had a surgery to relieve an injury that had left her in pain for many years. Now, she returns to the Linbury stage in a programme of self selected pieces and partners, fulfilling a long term dream. So what drives her now? And at 38 does she still have the same passion?

Natalia Osipova in Five Brahms Waltzes, The Royal Ballet © RBO / Andrej Uspenski

March’s Linbury programme at Covent Garden had been a long time coming. She tells me, “I always wanted to do something in my house – The Royal Ballet. We talked with Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, for so many years but I’ve always been so busy, and then last year I got injured and had surgery.”

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