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Performing arts in Hong Kong
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Superstar ballerina Natalia Osipova on being an ‘ugly duckling’, constant pain, baby hopes

Recently dancing in Hong Kong, Natalia Osipova talks about going from Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet to Britain’s Royal Ballet and her future hopes

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Natalia Osipova and Patricio Revé perform the Balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet during the Hong Kong Ballet’s annual gala on October 15, 2025. Osipova reflects on her career, from her Bolshoi beginnings to the Royal Ballet. Photo: Tony Luk, courtesy of HKB
Natasha Rogai

“Dancer’s life. Always injury,” Natalia Osipova said philosophically.

The superstar Russian ballerina had just arrived in Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Ballet’s annual gala, but, nursing a hurt foot, she could not perform Don Quixote’s demanding, virtuoso pas de deux as planned and had to substitute it with The Dying Swan instead on October 15. On the night, she also performed the Balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet with Patricio Revé from Queensland Ballet.

It was a coup for the Hong Kong Ballet to host Osipova, one of the biggest names in the industry and a dancer who shot to fame in 2004 after the Bolshoi Ballet’s then artistic director, Alexei Ratmansky, hired her when she was just 18 years old. She was already dancing leading roles a year later and was promoted to principal in 2010.
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Osipova remains grateful to Ratmansky for believing in her, especially as she faced a hostile reception from critics at the start of her career. She felt this was because she did not fit the expected ballerina mould of tall dancers with “phenomenal long legs and beautiful arched feet”, but was instead “shorter and more muscular”.

She also struggled at first to control her emotions on stage: “I showed so much emotion,” she said, adding wryly, “I think I actually looked funny at that time!”

Natalia Osipova has been with the Royal Ballet in London for 11 years. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Natalia Osipova has been with the Royal Ballet in London for 11 years. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The person who transformed her “from an ugly duckling” was her Bolshoi coach, Marina Kondratieva, who taught her to channel her abundance of energy and emotion to serve the narrative.

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