Osipova to dance at Sadler’s Wells

Posted on November 5, 2015

Natalia Osipova, the Russian-born principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, is to appear in a triple bill of specially created contemporary works at Sadler’s Wells next summer. The announcement was made at Sadler’s Wells’ annual press conference, where the theatre also revealed its plans for the first half of 2016.

Osipova, who was present at the press conference, will be dancing in new works by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Russell Maliphant – with whom she has not worked before – and Arthur Pita in a show that opens on June 29, 2016. Joining her will be former Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin, who was also present acting as translator. The ballerina told the assembled group of journalists and dance writers that she believed she had reached the part in her life where she was performing at her best, and wants to perform not only classical ballet but contemporary dance as well. “I want to push dance forward in any way possible,” she said, and was greatly looking forward to working with Pita on a work based on Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire.

The ballerina also said she has become a guest artist with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, but that her priority was her performances with The Royal Ballet in London. Confirming that he and Osipova were a couple, Polunin said the pair were actively trying to dance with each other more often, and that these forthcoming performances will be their first together in the UK.

Also at the press conference, Alistair Spalding, artistic director and chief executive, announced upcoming seasons at Sadler’s Wells by Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Akram Khan Company, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Rosas, English National Ballet, BalletBoyz, Rambert, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Northern Ballet and Crystal Pite. Booking for the spring/summer 2016 season opens on November 9.

Photograph: Nikolai Gulakov.

Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray is editor of Dancing Times. He studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic, and Wimbledon School of Art where he graduated with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. For 16 years he was a member of the curatorial department of the Theatre Museum, London, assisting on a number of dance-related exhibitions, and helping with the recreation of original designs for a number of The Royal Ballet’s productions including Danses concertantes, Daphnis and Chloë, and The Sleeping Beauty. He has also contributed to the Financial Times, written programme articles for The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and is co-author of the book Unleashing Britain: Theatre gets real 1955-64, published in 2005.