Natalia Osipova

Natalia Osipova
Natalia Osipova in an extract from Flames of Paris, at the reopening gala of the Bolshoi Theatre 2011
Born	Natalia Petrovna Osipova (1986-05-18) May 18, 1986 (age 30) Moscow, Russian SFSR
Education	Moscow State Academy of Choreography (The Bolshoi Ballet Academy)
Occupation	Ballet dancer
Current group	The Royal Ballet
Former groups	Bolshoi Ballet, Mikhailovsky Theatre

Natalia Petrovna Osipova (Russian: Ната́лья Петро́вна О́сипова) (born 18 May 1986) is a Russian ballerina, currently performing as a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London and the Mikhaylovsky Theatre Ballet in St Petersburg.

Born in Moscow, Osipova began her formal ballet training at the age of eight at the Mikhail Lavrovsky Ballet School and completed her studies from 1996 to 2004 at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, 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 much critical acclaim and was promoted to soloist in 2006. She was named one of the "25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine in 2007, was awarded the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2009 and promoted to leading soloist. In 2010, she became a principal dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet, but resigned from the company 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 with David Hallberg. A week before her performance in Sleeping Beauty, she was mugged 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.