From Dance Magazine

By Margaret Willis

It was a brief YouTube clip of her Kitri that set balletomanes abuzz. From the first moment that Bolshoi starlet Natalia Osipova was spotted in a short solo from Don Quixote, the link flew from computer to computer around the world. Her performance commanded the stage with sparkling personality and breathtaking technique. Tossing off multiple pirouettes with a laugh, she flew through the air, her head almost touching her back leg, with such exuberance that audience and fellow dancers alike cheered her on. Via cyberspace, her fame was well-established long before most of her newfound fans saw her in the flesh. Within four years, she rose through the ranks of the Bolshoi Ballet to first soloist. Under Bolshoi Ballet director Alexei Ratmansky, she has been given the opportunity to perform many roles and to develop a partnership with the equally exciting dancer Ivan Vasiliev.

My first live sighting of her was in 2006 in Southampton when the Bolshoi was on a regional tour of Britain. It wasn’t in some high-powered role, rather as one of the shepherdesses in Act II ofSpartacus. But there was something mesmerizing about the way she skipped, light as a feather while clutching her arms around her head, that foretold of a star-in-waiting. That summer, the company returned to London where Osipova, still a corps member, performed the full Don Quixoteto cheers and thunderous applause. The following year, partnered by the 18-year-old wunderkind Ivan Vasiliev, she again set the stage ablaze with her daredeviltry, pyrotechnics, and flamboyance. The tour also showed us more of her talent, and she received the 2007 top female dancer prize from the British Critics Circle National Dance Awards—a great honor considering how many fine and famous ballerinas graced the stages of Britain that year.

As Gamzatti in La Bayadère, she was an imperious, hard young woman who would not contemplate losing the affections of her betrothed to a mere temple dancer. Her whole performance was one of cold, calculating command, and her nuptial pas de deux with Solor was performed with possessive authority. In Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream, she showed a comic streak. In Tharp’s In the Upper Room, she danced with a vitality that was hypnotic for its fearless, slick, and fluid technique—all done with a terrific sense of enjoyment. For this role she received the Golden Mask award in Moscow last spring.

But things could have been very different and we might have been watching an Olympic champion rather than a ballerina. Osipova, 22, started out as a determined gymnast, with eyes on an eventual Olympic medal. A back injury sent her off to ballet classes for strengthening, but she was not a willing dancer. Despite being accepted into the Moscow Choreographic Academy, she felt she was just biding time until she could return to the gym floor.

“When I started ballet, I didn’t really like the classes,” she told me. “I was too flexible. While my limbs flew up easily in class, I didn’t have the control needed. I also realize now that I wasn’t a serious student. I believed that this ballet instruction was just a small period in my life and that soon I would be getting back to the sports world, which I loved so much.” But she eventually realized her back problem would prevent her from returning to gymnastics, and started to accept ballet. “It wasn’t until I performed onstage in a school concert and heard the appreciative applause of the audience that I suddenly realized that ballet was really important for me. I began to work hard. I’d danced a Russian dance and enjoyed wearing a costume, putting on makeup and becoming someone else. But I especially liked the applause—and,” she added with a cheeky grin, “I still do.”

Ballet competitions followed. At 17, in 2003, she won the Grand Prix in Luxembourg. In 2005, as a new corps member of the Bolshoi Ballet, she won the bronze in the Moscow International Competition despite having to cope with rehearsals and performances for two company premieres at the same time. In November 2005, she stepped out of the corps for a night to perform the fullDon Quixote with competition partner Andrei Bolotin, thus winning more fans.

So, after all these hard-punching bravura heroines, what about lyricism? When Johan Kobborg went to Moscow to stage his version of La Sylphide on the Bolshoi in 2007, he selected Osipova as the lead. Suddenly, in place of the powerhouse bravura and fiendishly technical challenges that she relishes, she transformed into a silky Sylph. She skimmed the stage like a smooth stone on a millpond. She offered the lightest of jumps, which exploded like milkweed pods. As her tarlatan billowed out around her, she gave the sensation of her feet not touching the ground. But she was also a sassy Sylph who delighted in teasing poor James. As in all her performances, Osipova immersed herself in her character so much that she was living the role rather than just playing a part.

In her debut as Giselle last fall she was a peasant girl with gusto rather than a demure seamstress. Her mad scene was so vivid that she received a phone call from her mother in the intermission, checking if she was all right. As a Wili, the ballerina born to balance on pointe evidenced fluidity and grace while remaining strong in character.

So where does she go for technique polishing and filigree detailing of all these roles? Osipova never hesitates to praise her coach Marina Kondratieva, who is the complete antithesis of the young dancer. The soft-spoken, introverted, and gentle Kondratieva was a Bolshoi ballerina of the ’60s and ’70s much loved for her lyricism, phrasing, and musicality. It was a surprise to everyone that Osipova pleaded with her to take her on. Kondratieva guides her pupil in the ways of long held Bolshoi traditions, regularly reining in Osipova, who would rather bring out her personality onstage than dance by the book. “Marina Viktorovna is a genius in explaining everything to me,” says Osipova. “We work out every minute detail from eyelash to fingertips.”

The pretty young Russian with raven-black hair and heavy mascara-ed eyes is a glutton for hard work, a perfectionist who demands 100 percent of herself even in rehearsals. She will ruminate over anything that she feels was not her best, and her brow will furrow with displeasure. But after some walking to and fro, she continues, no matter how tired, until the steps are perfected. Dance is a propelling force inside her and nothing can stop it—not even the virus and high temperature she suffered on her debut as Medora in Le Corsaire in April. Despite this, she danced full-out in a role well-suited for her with partner Ivan Vasiliev, who was also making his debut as Conrad and who won plaudits for his macho, comic bravura.

These two dynamos make for an exhilarating pairing. Anything can happen, and they set the audiences cheering. Osipova turns on a dime in her speedy multiple pirouettes and devours the stage while reaching the heights in her flights across it. Vasiliev, in true competitive spirit and with a great sense of fun and joy, will match her, streaking like an arrow in airborne jetés and spinning like a top in his jaw-dropping turns. The two of them have become the darlings of the international ballet world, not to mention they were each a Dance Magazine “25 to Watch,” she in 2007, he in 2008. During the festival of Ballet Nacional de Cuba in the fall of 2006, they challenged the Latins’ renowned virtuosity to flash their unique brand of excitement to crowds who erupted with enthusiastic and passionate cheering.

While we can anticipate many more sparkling jewels in Osipova’s tiara to be unveiled in the next few years, it is her bravura that her devoted fans want to see most. She is often invited to guest with many companies—usually performing “Kitri, Kitri, Kitri” she laughingly states—bringing the house down as in St. Petersburg, where she repeated her 32 spot-on fouettés at the Kirov. She admits that her life as a gymnast would have been very short-lived, so she’s happy how things have worked out.

“Ballet is my destiny,” she declares solemnly.

Margaret Willis, a contributing editor to Dance Magazine based in London, has been covering the Bolshoi Ballet since 1977.

From Pointe

The Joffrey Ballet Artistic Director Ashley Wheater gives an insider’s perspective on what directors want to see.

What should dancers include in an audition DVD?

Everyone’s at different places in their career and what you include depends on that. If you’re just coming out of school, you need to be able to show some good center work, including adagio, good pirouettes, jumping, batterie and on up. It’s ok to include some barre work, but don’t spend a lot of time on it. With women I really want to see pointe work: how they roll up and down. For the men, I like to see big jumps, including double tours and double assemble; fifty percent should be partnering work, no matter whether you’re at the principal level or in the corps.

I also want to see a good classical variation, and good contemporary dance. Show you understand contemporary movement, whether it’s Taylor, Graham, Horton, etc. Sometimes with audition tapes I see a dancer do a lot of tricks but I don’t know if they can move across the room. I really want to see how you connect movement and how musical you are. Show your personality. Make sure you’re performing enchainements as opposed to just exercises.
Is there anything you’d like to see in more audition DVDs?

It’s really nice when the dancer introduces themselves at the very beginning of the tape. Ballet is so much about who you are, it’s important see a dancer’s personality.
Is there anything you don’t like in an audition DVD?

It’s difficult when DVDs come with a long explanation like, “I’m the second one from the left in the third formation.” Try to be as clear as possible who is auditioning. Also, I want to know what year the footage is from. It has to be current.
What should dancers wear in the DVD?
No black tights. It makes it really hard to see in a video. Women should wear a light colored leotard and pink tights. I like guys in grey tights.
How long should it be?

Around 15 minutes.
Can you tell when dancers are trying to camouflage certain weaknesses?
Yes. The material should be as interesting as you have the ability to perform. Choose a variation that shows you to your best advantage. Don’t change the variation. It just shows you can’t do the hard steps.
From first turning on the DVD, how long does it take for you to make a decision?

I’m pretty attuned to what I like. I can decide fairly quickly whether a dancer appeals to me. Directors are usually quite clear about what they need for their company. Sometimes we’re looking very specifically for a small woman at the soloist level. A lot of kids don’t understand that. Nonetheless, I almost always watch the whole DVD. If someone is really talented but I can’t hire them at that time, I’ll call them to give them advice for finding a great company for them.

Right now it’s a fragile time. The arts are struggling along with everyone else. Looking for a job in ballet is hard work. You have to be ready for it and understand what it is to work in pointe shoes for seven hours, look after yourself, eat well and pick up choreography quickly. Companies don’t have the luxury of having people hanging around and not being used.

Competition season is upon us, and this is such a great experience for dancers, but it can also be very stressful.  I have come up with a list of competition essentials to help dancers get through this crazy time.

#1 – Get plenty of sleep.  If you are not well rested, there are greater chances of injury and forgetting choreography.  Get at least 7 hours of sleep the night before you compete so you can be refreshed and ready to go in the morning!

#2 – Always eat something.  Your body depends on food to give you energy.  If you are performing all day, you are going to need plenty of energy to perform your best.  Make sure to eat plenty of fruits and light carbohydrates.  Stay away from junk food and heavier foods that may make you feel too full.

#3 – Always have an extra pair of tights.  You never know what can happen when dancing on stage, and there is always a chance that you will get a big run in your tights during a performance.  If those are the only tights you have, you will be stuck with them for the rest of the competition.  Another mini tip: Have clear nail polish on hand; if you put this around the run, it prevents the hole from getting bigger.

#4 – Make sure to wear blush and lipstick.  The lights on the stage can make a dancer look very pale.  Wearing lipstick and blush will bring color to your face and not drown you out on stage.

#5 – Warm up and stretch properly.  A dancer should always warm up and stretch before any type of dancing to help prevent injury.  Many dancers forget to do this during competition because they are very busy with costume changes and running their choreography back stage.  Try to arrive at the facility early so you give yourself plenty of time to warm up and stretch.  This will lower the risk of injury during the performance.

#6 – Relax and stay confident.  Try not to panic before you go on stage;  just let all of your hard work and practice show in your performance and you’ll be fine.  The more confident you are in yourself, the better you will be;  for competition and for the rest of your dancing career.

Competing is a great experience for a dancer; it can teach you many things that you can use now and throughout the rest of your life.  But most of all, have fun!

So as you can read in the title if you don’t know who Cedarlake Contemporary Ballet are then look them up! I saw their show tonight and it was absolutely amazing. It was called, “Orbo Novo” choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Here is the link to see the promo video (copy and paste the link so you can watch it now and know what I’m talking about):

http://www.cedarlakedance.com/index.php?id=10

As you can see in the video the dancers are so very talented, athletic, and amazing. All of their movement was so fluid and seamless, yet very physical and demanding. I got to sit pretty close to the stage so I could see exactly how much energy and strength all the movement required and to see it executed so fluidly almost brought me to tears because it was done so amazingly. I so appreciated how talented the dancers are. I am a big fan of dancers who are very strong not only technically, but physically as well. The way they danced was everything I believe in with my own personal movement. It was physical, demanding, yet fluid and seamless.

Here is a link to their review in the New York Times. The reviewer, Gia Kourlas, can describe the show much better than I can:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/arts/dance/22cedar.html

Like the writer described the show they climbed on the “cages” that were moveable and poked through and hung from them. They also made it look very easy, which we all know takes a lot of strength and control. I also really admired the costume design. I agree with the writer that the clothing looked “strangely dated”, yet it also had a retro feel as well. Usually I don’t enjoy lavish and overly embellished costumes in a dance performance (not saying that theirs was), but I really enjoyed the costume design in this show. The designer utilized long skirts for the women in which they changed in and out of so that they didn’t dance in them the entire time. They would have pants that had matching material as their skirts.

The movement they happen to do in the show involving “falls and recovery” is a lot like what I’m choreographing in my solo currently. The choreographer also had them do a lot of floor work, which really inspired me as well, because the whole beginning of my solo takes place on the floor and I transition myself to standing. I’ve been having a difficult time working through that transition, but I am rehearsing again tomorrow and will use my new inspiration to help me.

On another note, I found a composer to work with! It’s another NYU student who is a part of the Steinhardt School of Music. His name is Elias and he and I got to meet for the first time today. He had a piece of music already for me to listen to because I had emailed him a video of my working choreography (with no sound) so that he could see what would inspire him. He had a piece of music he had done from a fashion show so we listened to it and discussed what sounds could be added, taken out, etc. It was a great experience being able to have some collaboration with a composer. I’ve never done that before so this is a great learning experience for me. Elias is also interested in collaborating on a project where the choreography literally inspires the sound. He has a program on the computer where it takes in live video feed of the dancers and when the dancers move through space the music will reflect in a certain way. It’s a little difficult to explain, but I am so excited for this collaboration! I will keep you all updated.

So check out Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and thanks for reading!