WHAT THE CRITICS SAID...

For reviews from the Russian press, click here


Here was a totally transformed being, ethereal in appearance, movements and emotions. Full of feminine softness but also as naughty as an innocent child, Osipova's sylph was unable to withhold the damage she would eventually cause. The character was sparkling with marvellous details, her mime subtle, her dancing unforgettable by its lightness, fluidity and ease. She held you enraptured from start to finish - it was another tremendous debut.
Marc Haegeman in The Dancing Times, April 2008.


At last week's performance, the Bolshoi's bright young star, Natalia Osipova, brought a truly ethereal quality to the title role, playing it out as if she dwelled in an atmosphere all her own. And, especially in the forest scene of the second act, her dancing sparkled with brilliance at every turn. Vyacheslav Lopatin convincingly portrayed the dream-obsessed James and danced impeccably.
Raymond Stults in The Moscow Times, 4 April 2008.


Even if Giselle is far too complex a ballet to disclose all its colours and flavours to a newcomer right away, Osipova’s performance no less stands as a magnificent achievement, carrying the seeds of future greatness.

Osipova’s plasticity was superbly correct, her appearance spotless, with her raven-black hair, unadorned, framing her face. While she easily emitted the purity and tranquillity of the nocturnal scene, it was as soon as she started moving that she really took the ballet into another dimension. Transfigured by the dynamism of her dancing, her effortless leaps and beautiful ballon carrying her across the stage in defiance of gravity, (...)
Marc Haegeman in The Dancing Times, February 2008.


As the Ballerina, Natalia Osipova, star of this season, is once again a marvel. Her jump is a sort of miracle, fiercely propulsive yet high and light. But she also has a lovely way of making space around her arms, and the light comic intrigue of the part suits her lively personality.
Sarah Crompton in The Daily Telegraph, 20 August 2007.


Leading the opening night triumph was Natalia Osipova, 21, whose Kitri is one of the Bolshoi’s most amazing assets. She arrived on stage like a speeding bullet and barely stopped for breath during the next three acts. Naughty and high spirited, she danced with an exhilaration that knew no bounds, soaring over the stage as if there was no tomorrow, polishing off one defiant set of turns after another. Yet when grace and symmetry were called for, in the hallucinatory Dryads scene, she delivered them with poise, an impeccable ballerina.
Debra Craine in The Times, 13 August 2007.


Osipova is a squarish little demi-caractère dancer, with wide-set dark eyes and a huge, flirtatious grin. Resistance is futile; you adore her on sight. What sets her apart from her more conventionally classical colleagues is the phenomenal height of her jump. In a jeté, as her front leg flies up to chest height, her back leg whips up behind with a steel-sprung force which, for a moment - thrust meeting gravity in perfect equipoise - literally floats her in mid-air. At which point everyone gasps: the audience with disbelief, she with triumphant ecstasy.
Luke Jennings in The Observer, 12 August 2007.


Let us not exaggerate, but six stars seem to be in order. I have not known so euphoric an evening at the ballet for a long time: the audience agog; bursts of applause and gasps of amazement during solos; a delight in the dancing matched by a buoyant response from the stage; cheers, yet more cheers.

To details: Osipova has breathtaking ballon, elevation and speed. The dance takes to the skies, races over the stage, its shape enhanced by the youthful freshness of her skills, its effects made vivid by her evident delight in bravura. Character is lovingly shown with a generosity of feeling, a delicious warmth of emotion. Not since Plisetskaya and Maximova have we seen so adorable a Kitri, and never one so divinely destined to claim the role as her own. This Kitri can do no wrong.
Clement Crisp in The Financial Times, 12 August 2007.


At only 21, Natalia Osipova is one of the five or six best performers I have seen as the spirited, naughty heroine of Don Quixote.
John Percival in The Stage, 11 August 2007.


The effortlessness of her movements, almost making fun of the most intricate terre-à-terre patterns or the daunting, knockout series of fouettés with doubles and triples, her magnificent, high jumps that seem to come out of nowhere, her seemingly indefatigable energy - all create this electrifying fascination which keeps you on the edge of your seat.

As the true heiress of Maya Plisetskaya, Olga Lepeshinskaya, Ekaterina Maximova, and other Bolshoi greats, Osipova locks the ballet even more in its rightful place at the outset of the 21st century. Don Quixote is a genuine Muscovite ballet but Osipova guarantees it will remain this way for at least the coming decade. After merely three seasons in the company, Natalia Osipova’s Don Quixote is already a classic.
Marc Haegeman in Danceviewtimes, May 2007.


Much more important was the simplicity of their bravura dancing throughout the ballet and in the famous pas de deux. Though clearly capable of the usual fireworks, Mr. Vasiliev and Ms. Osipova made pure, unornamented classical dancing exciting. And Ms. Osipova’s complete second-act transformation into the delicate dream Dulcinea was as astonishing.
Jennifer Dunning in The New York Times, 27 February 2007.


The Bolshoi Ballet's visit to the Kennedy Center last week was highlighted by one of the most magical and dazzling performances ever seen here. At Saturday's matinee two young dancers -- Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev (mark those names) -- tore up the stage in "Don Quixote," breezing through the difficult pyrotechnics of this most virtuosic of ballets. Their astounding technical aplomb was only a portion of what made their performance memorable. They radiated joy and youthful freshness, and also a daring that led them to add even more brilliant challenges to roles already full of them.

It's safe to predict they will be ballet's next superstars.

All companies have individual virtues, and Miss Osipova, as the heroine Kitri, has Bolshoi virtues writ large: a feminine, womanly quality that keeps virtuosity from looking brittle; sky-high extensions; and arm movements that grow from deep in the back, giving them a plushy eloquence. These qualities shone especially in her beautiful serene dancing of Act II's vision scene.
Jean Battey Lewis in The Washington Times, 26 February 2007.


Critics enjoy predicting greatness every now and then. It's our, admittedly pallid, way of going out on a limb. Osipova rather cheats us of the opportunity - she's so obviously steeped in the stuff that any acclamation would be like calling Tiger Woods a "promising golfer".
Clifford Bishop in The Independent, 27 August 2006.


On Thursday night Osipova was cast as Kitri in the first showing this season of Don Quixote. She appeared, flashing high over the stage in a sequence of jumps that had an electric vitality, an airy bravura, that I have not seen since Maya Plisetskaya showered us with stars in this same role 40 and more years ago. And thus Osipova conquered us, won our hearts, our cheers.

It is a performance wholly winning, sublimely apt, and fired by the very fact of her youthfulness. It is this freshness of her skills, the natural and happy way in which the impossible is shown, that added such lustre to her performance. She is a rare, lovely talent.
Clement Crisp in The Financial Times, 20 August 2006.