Press Release: Natalia Osipova visit Edinburgh, London and New York, August - November 2016

[Jan McNulty]

Natalia Osipova

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Russell Maliphant / Arthur Pita
Tuesday 27 September - Saturday 1 October 2016
Performances: Tues - Sat at 7.30pm
Tickets: £12 - £60
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

 

“Osipova’s power glinted through… A rare achievement indeed for a ballet star, but it looked so right.” 
Sunday Express on Silent Echo

 

Following the summer World Premiere, multi-award-winning ballerina Natalia Osipova returns to Sadler’s Wells with the triple bill of work created for her by renowned contemporary choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Russell Maliphant and Arthur Pita from 27 September - 1 October 2016. Prior to its London dates, the production visits the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh as part of the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival from 12 - 14 August 2016. From 10 - 12 November the production visits New York City Centre, marking its US Premiere.   

 

Once again, Osipova will be joined on stage by former Royal Ballet dancer Sergei Polunin.

 

Natalia Osipova is a Principal with The Royal Ballet. She joined the company in 2013 after her guest appearance in Swan Lake, and has performed lead roles in Giselle, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, La Fille mal gardée and DGV: Danse à grande vitesse. She has created roles in Wayne McGregor’s Tetractys and Woolf Works, and Alastair Marriott’s Connectome. She started her formal ballet training at the age of eight, before joining the Bolshoi Ballet at the age of 18. She has also danced with American Ballet Theatre and Mikhailovsky Ballet.

 

The first of three works performed by Osipova is Qutb, choreographed by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist and Artistic Director of Royal Ballet of Flanders Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Qutb, a trio for Osipova and two male dancers, Jason Kittleberger (Cedar Lake Contemporary Dance Company) and James O’Hara (recently seen in Bolero at Paris Opera Ballet with Marina Abramovitch and long term collaborator with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui).

 

Qutb, an exploration of unknown and dangerous territory, with the three performers, each coming from different dance or movement languages, connect and communicate with one another. The work features Cherkaoui’s trademark alchemy of movement vocabularies, musical genres and cultures with lighting designed by recent Knight of Illumination winner Fabiana Piccoli and a soundscape designed by Felix Buxton from Basement Jaxx. The work also features costume designs by Kimie Nakano, a frequent collaborator with Akram Khan Company.

 

Cherkaoui has created more than 20 works including zero degrees, Babel, Sutraand m¡longa and is acknowledged as one of Europe’s most exciting choreographers. He continues to work with a variety of theatres, opera houses and ballet companies from around the world including Dutch National Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, GöteborgsOperan Danskompani, Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon in Tokyo and Stuttgart Ballet. Cherkaoui received international acclaim for his choreography in Joe Wright’s feature film Anna Karenina (2012). His work Fractus, with his company Eastman will receive its UK premiere at Sadler’s Wells this Autumn. 

 

The second work in the programme is Russell Maliphant’s Silent Echo, a new duet for Osipova and Sergei Polunin. The piece features lighting by Maliphant’s long-time collaborator and Knight of Illumination award-winner Michael Hulls. Hulls, a Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist, also received an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2014. The new work features a soundtrack from UK composer and sound artist Scanner.

 

Maliphant is one of the longest-standing Associate Artists of Sadler’s Wells. He trained at the Royal Ballet School and graduated into Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet Company before leaving to pursue a career in independent dance. As a dancer he worked with companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre, Michael Clark Company, Laurie Booth and Rosemary Butcher. He also studied anatomy, physiology and bio-mechanics. He became certified as a practitioner of the Rolfing Method of Structural Integration in 1994, which has subsequently informed both his teaching and choreographic work.

 

Throughout his career Maliphant has set works on renowned companies and artists including: Sylvie Guillem, Robert Lepage, The Ballet Boyz, Lyon Opera Ballet, Ricochet Dance Company, CobosMika, The Batsheva Ensemble, and Ballet de Lorraine. He has been the recipient of several awards including two Olivier Awards, a Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography (Modern) and a South Bank Show Award.

 

The final part of the evening sees a second duet for Osipova and Polunin from Royal Opera House regular Arthur Pita. In Run Mary Run, Pita crafts a dark, comedic story for the pair, highlighting Osipova’s natural gift for acting. The work features a soundtrack from The Shangri-La’s, The Crystals and David Lynch, mixed by Pita’s long-time collaborator Frank Moon. Pita and Osipova previously worked together on Facada which was seen at the London Coliseum in 2014 as part of Solo for Two and featured Osipova dancing with Ivan Vasiliev.

 

Pita has also choreographed movement for plays, operas and musicals, including Women Beware Women at the National Theatre, Becky Shaw at the Almeida and La Bohème and Show Boat at the Royal Albert Hall. His production of The Little Match Girl received rave reviews at its premiere in 2014, and returned to Sadler’s Wells’ Lilian Baylis Studio for the 2015 Christmas season. Earlier in 2016, Pita premiered new work Cristaux, part of a triple bill for Ballet Black at the Barbican. In March 2017 Arthur Pita will premiere new work for San Francisco Ballet.

 

A Sadler's Wells Production

 

 

Notes to Editors

Listings information:
Natalia Osipova
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Russell Maliphant / Arthur Pita
Sadler’s Wells, London 
Tuesday 27 September - Saturday 1 October 2016
Performances: Tues - Sat at 7.30pm
Tickets: £12 - £60
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

 

 Additional tour dates:

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Friday 12 - Sunday 14 August 2016
Performances: Fri - Sun at 7.30pm
Ticket Office: 0131 473 2000 or www.eif.org.uk

 

New York City Centre
Thursday 10 - Friday 12 November 2016
Performances: Thur - Sat at 8pm
Ticket Office: 001 212 581 1212 or www.nycitycentre.org 

 

ABOUT NATALIA OSIPOVA
Russian dancer Natalia Osipova is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. She joined the Company as a Principal in autumn 2013, after appearing as a Guest Artist the previous season as Odette/Odile (Swan Lake) with Carlos Acosta. Her roles with the Company include Giselle, Kitri (Don Quixote), Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Lise (La Fille mal gardée), Titania (The Dream), Juliet, Tatiana (Onegin), Manon, Natalia Petrovna (A Month in the Country) and roles in Serenade, DGV: Danse à grande vitesse and Tchaikovsky Pas de deux. She has created roles in Wayne McGregor’s Tetractys and Woolf Worksand Alastair Marriott’s Connectome.

 

Osipova was born in Moscow and began dancing at the age of five. Aged eight she joined the Mikhail Lavrovsky Ballet School. From 1995 to 2004 she trained at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography and on graduating entered the corps of the Bolshoi Ballet, where she was promoted to Principal in 2010. Her repertory there included Kitri (Don Quixote), Giselle, Nikiya and Gamzatti (La Bayadère), La Sylphide, Esmerelda, Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty) and Swanilda (Coppélia). In 2011 she left the Bolshoi to join the Mikhailovsky Ballet as a Principal.

 

Osipova has appeared as a guest artist with companies around the world. In March 2012 she became a Principal of American Ballet Theatre, where she created the title role in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird. Her awards include Golden Masks for her performances in Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room (2008) and La Sylphide (2009), Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards (Best Female Dancer, 2007 and 2010) and a Benois de la Danse Award (Best Female Dancer, 2008).

 

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS
Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance house, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding, the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap.

 

Since 2005, it has helped to bring over 100 new dance works to the stage and its award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour internationally. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies, an Associate Company and two International Associate Companies. It also nurtures the next generation of talent through its New Wave Associates and Summer University programmes, its Wild Card initiative and hosting of the National Youth Dance Company.

 

Located in Islington, north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells.

 

Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 10% of its revenue from Arts Council England. 

[TrumpetsGo]

well informative