Nette Reviews: Natalia Osipova Is A Stunningly Versatile Ballerina

Renowned Russian ballerina, Natalia Osipova brought regality and creativity to the dance stage of New York City Center (NYCC). The prima ballerina of The Royal Ballet has outdone herself completely in the new, touring production of Natalia Osipova & Artists that played in NYCC from November 10- 12. Divided into three magnificent acts, there was no disappointment: only joy. 

Inspired by the 1960’s dark-pop group Shangri-Las darkened interpretations of young love and musical obsessions with death, Run Mary Run feels like Romeo & Juliet on heroin. As the Shangri-Las songs play throughout, the first act becomes a punk-pop contemporary dance that writhes in its narrative of how drugs, sex, and music can turn puppy love into a rabid dog. This act pops out as the funnest and most different for Osipova. 

This stunning act begins and ends on a pile of grey ash: symbolic of the fatal love of Mary (Natalia Osipova) and Jimmy (Sergei Polunin). The pair, whom usually work together, have phenomenal chemistry, and this fresh tale of love tn helped add to their already acclaimed dance partnership. Unbeknownst to the audience, as we were all being seated, Natalia and Sergei are beneath a huge of pile of what seems to be dark soot. As the light dim, the show begins, you see this pile as nothing until Natalia’s hand reaches out and Mary is born. She is bright, young, and beautiful as she swerves across the stage, and pulls Jimmy from the ash and into life, as well. The audience is in awe and highly entertained by the 1960’s, “Grease” style dance and energy that brims through the couple as they use as swing as a prop. This act, especially, made fascinating use of props. As Mary and Jimmy’s relationship is darkened by drugs and lust, the couple incorporates smokes and bottles of alcohol to hypnotically pass them between each other in a smooth dance reflective of addiction’s hold over a person. Their brightness turns into possession, and the audience is enraptured by this story told through dance. 

I have never seen such a fresh piece of classical technique modernized for audiences through a story that feels so “now’. After all, Amy Winehouse died only a few years ago, and with the passing of Prince, people are consistently fascinated by the negative choices and loves of musical legends. Moreover, the ending is near Shakespearean, which can be said for these celebrity lives, whom had it all yet felt too empty. As Mary dances, she discovers her lover’s heroin addiction, to which Jimmy dies on the pile of grey ash. Mary, heartbroken, shows her mourning through every move in her body, and, eventually, lands in the pile of ash, as well.  Run Mary Run shows that a fiery love can live and die in the ashes of its own fire.

QUTB was my favorite act of the night. This routine was serene and tranquilizing to the audience whose energy had zoomed to Heaven in Run Mary Run. Qutb is Arabic for axis point and in Sufism means “the universal man”. Through its three dancers, Osipova, Jason Kittelberger, and James O’Hara, the entire piece is dedicated to the spiritual leadership and support human beings can give to each other. As each dancer pulls, pushes, climbs, and carries the other, while always making sure that three are interconnected, viewers thought they were watching a dance of mythological proportions. It was like their bodies were tranquil pieces of universe moving throughout the stage to show that one’s physicality is cosmic. 

There was never an instance of separation, which was incredibly symbolic for these times when people must remember how intertwined human beings will always be with each other. One choice affects everyone, even in ways you may never know or see. Qutb exemplified this through organic, swiveling movements that were so smooth, the dancers’  bodies conjoined as if together they had formed a   spiritually delicious, human pretzel.

Silent Echo
Choreographed By Russell Maliphant