30 December 2024 |
She has long deserved the title of genius. Her mastery has been honed to the degree that it is not just powerful, but meaningful too. She also possesses that which may be seen in Balanchine’s productions of Petipa: refinement in ballet is a ‘dancer-proof’ thing, the plastique is emotional in itself. Her character suits Aurora. Or Zoya in Yakobson’s The Bedbug. Osmolkina has the rare gift for acting where her positive heroines are not exactly more vivid but definitely no less interesting than her tragic or negative roles. Her Shyrin is the best today and, it would appear, not just at the Mariinsky Theatre. In The Legend of Love Osmolkina has a dazzling duet with Ulyana Lopatkina: here there are no questions as to why Ferkhad has fallen in love with Shyrin and why Mekhmeneh Bahnu is the Queen.
Kultura
Yekaterina Osmolkina was an absolutely magnificent Flore: her heroine saw herself as an adornment and was proud of the fact. A brilliant and carefree technique, as well as a brilliant sense of style.
Vremya Novostei
Osmolkina appears to equally brilliant acclaim in the most diverse roles, and the grotesque of her Die Puppenfee may be compared with her stunning lyricism in Giselle. Yekaterina performed the pas de deux in Act II of this ballet with this year’s Spirit of Dance winner Vladimir Shklyarov in such style that the balletomanes had tears in their eyes.
Literaturnaya Gazeta
Born in Kishinev (Moldova).
Graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet (class of Professor Inna Zubkovskaya).
Joined the Mariinsky Ballet in 1999.
Repertoire includes:
La Sylphide (the Sylph); choreography by August Bournonville, revised version by Elsa-Marianne von Rosen,
Giselle (Giselle, Monna, Zulma, Classical Duet); choreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa,
Swan Lake (Odette-Odile, Friends of the Prince, Two Swans); choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, revised version by Konstantin Sergeyev,
Le Corsaire (Gulnare); production by Pyotr Gusev after the composition and choreography of Marius Petipa,
La Bayadère (Gamzatti, D’Jampe, Grand pas classique); choreography by Marius Petipa, revised version by Vladimir Ponomarev and Vakhtang Chabukiani,
The Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora, Silver Fairy, Generosity Fairy, Diamond Fairy, Princess Florine); choreography by Marius Petipa, revised version by Konstantin Sergeyev,
Le Réveil de Flore (Flore); choreography by Marius Petipa, reconstruction of the 1894 production,
Raymonda (Clemance, Henrietta); choreography by Marius Petipa, revised version by Konstantin Sergeyev,
“Paquita” Grand pas (Variation); choreography by Marius Petipa,
Pas de deux from the ballet The Talisman; choreography by Marius Petipa,
Don Quixote (Kitri, Queen of the Dryads, Flower Girl, Variation in Act IV); choreography by Alexander Gorsky,
Michel Fokine’s ballets Chopiniana (Nocturne, Eleventh Waltz, Mazurka, First Waltz), Le Spectre de la rose (the Young Lady) and Pétrouchka (the Friend of an Elegant Lady), George Balanchine’s ballets Apollo (Terpsichore), Serenade, Piano Concerto No 2 (Ballet Imperial), The Four Temperaments, Theme and Variations, Jewels (Emeralds, Diamonds), Symphony in C (3rd movement, Allegro vivace), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pas de deux from Act II) and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux,
The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Maria); choreography by Rostislav Zakharov,
Romeo and Juliet (Juliet, Juliet’s Companions); choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky,
The Nutcracker (Masha); choreography by Vasily Vainonen,
The Legend of Love (Shyrin, Shyrin’s Friends, Gold Dance); choreography by Yuri Grigorovich, Leningrad Symphony (the Girl); scenario and choreography by Igor Belsky,
Études; choreography by Harald Lander,
Manon (Lescaut’s Lover); choreography by Kenneth MacMillan,
Alexei Ratmansky's ballets: Cinderella (Cinderella) and The Little Humpbacked Horse (Tsar Maiden),
The Magic Nut (Frog); production by Mihail Chemiakin, choreography by Donvena Pandoursky, The Nutcracker (Masha, the Nutcracker’s Sisters, a Sutler, Chinese Dance, Waltz of the Flowers) and Princess Pirlipat, or Worthiness Punished (Spanish Rat Dance); production by Mihail Chemiakin, choreography by Kirill Simonov,
The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; choreography by William Forsythe,
Ondine (Giannina); choreography by Pierre Lacotte
and Aria Suspended (Soloist); choreography by Peter Quanz.
Repertoire also includes:
The Bedbug (Zoya); choreography by Leonid Yakobson,
Lulu. Dream of an Anti-Star; choreography by Giuliano Peparini,
Come in!; choreography by Kirill Simonov,
Connections; choreography by Ilya Zhivoi.
During the Stars of the White Nights festival in 2008 she appeared in the gala concert Great Ballerinas of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Has toured with the Mariinsky Ballet to Great Britain, Germany and China.
