Natalia Osipova

Natalia Petrovna Osipova (; born 18 May 1986) is a Russian ballerina, currently a principal ballerina with The Royal Ballet in London. Early life and training 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. Career 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. 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.