One of the long-awaited events of the II International Mariinsky Far East Festival is performance of the internationally acclaimed ballet dancer Natalia Osipova at the Primorsky Stage.
On 18 July, the artist will perform the leading female role in the ballet Marguerite and Armand as part of the mixed programme of an Evening with Vladimir Shklyarov.
In 1963, choreographer Frederick Ashton created the ballet Marguerite and Armand specifically for the legendary partnership Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. The ballet took its inspiration from the plot of La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, set to Franz Liszt’s tempestuous Piano Sonata. The production was a resounding success and the performance by Fonteyn and Nureyev was so perfect that the choreographer forbade everyone else to dance the piece. It was only in 2000 that the ballet was revived by the Royal Ballet with new young stars. The title parts of Marguerite and Armand, which require not only the highest technical mastery, but actual actors’ emotional involvement, are entrusted only to top-class dancers. Among them are principal dancers of the world’s leading theaters Vladimir Shklyarov and Natalia Osipova, who will present the performance at the Primorsky Stage.
Natalia Osipova’s international career is breathtaking: currently, she’s performing as a Prima Ballerina with the world’s major theatres, such as the Mariinsky Theatre, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Mikhailovsky Theatre, the American Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera (New York), Teatro alla Scala (Milan), the Grand Opera (Paris), Covent-Garden (London) and many others. Her awards include the Golden Mask, Dance Open, Benois de la Danse.
Moreover, Natalia Osipova is the third dancer whom the National Dance Awards Critics' Circle has named “The Best Female Dancer of the Year” twice.
