Sergei Polunin and Natalia Osipova

[canbelto]

There's two recent interviews, one with Sergei:

http://www.balletinsider.com/en/archive/solo/1835

And one with Natalia:

http://www.balletinsider.com/en/archive/solo/1827

They sort of confirm they are a couple and plan to dance together a lot more in the future. Sergei has a "Natasha" tattoo on his left hand in Cyrillic. Yikes.

[Mme. Hermine]

yikes indeed. so he has to put makeup on his hands???

[Amy Reusch]

I wonder if his taste in art will be the same 15 years from now?

[canbelto]

Well here's some video of Osipova/Polunin Giselle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lLWy0r851M

[Mailied]

Well I think they make quite a lovely pair. I love Osipova's Giselle but her port de bras annoys me so much.

[sandik]

She seems to have a very specific approach to the style as well as the character -- if it rubs you the wrong way, I can imagine it would be really frustrating. From what I've seen (on video) I rather like her Giselle. Her O/O in Swan Lake, not as much.

[NinaFan]

I’ve seen Osipova dance Giselle three times. First with ABT, then with the Mikhailovsky, and mostly recently with ABT again. My favorite was with McRae. She just keeps getting better and better.

[Mailied]

I think her Giselle is a very powerful thing and I'm glad I have it on dvd but her arms frustrate me even though I love everything else about it. But I can't imagine her doing Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty, and the short videos I've seen really didn't paint the greatest picture. Sometimes I feel like a dancer can be too strong.

[Swanilda8]

I saw them together in "Other Dances" at the Stanislavsky. They made a very good pair - I always think he has some partnering issues, and they weren't totally gone here, but this was definitely the best I've seen him partnering-wise. I also think they're both very smart dancers ( as well as obviously brilliant virtuosi), so I'm looking forward to more partnership between them. I wonder if he'll appear at Covent Garden with her.

[NinaFan]

I think her Giselle is a very powerful thing and I'm glad I have it on dvd but her arms frustrate me even though I love everything else about it. But I can't imagine her doing Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty, and the short videos I've seen really didn't paint the greatest picture. Sometimes I feel like a dancer can be too strong.

I can't speak for her Swan Lake, as I haven't seen her dance the role. However I saw her in Sleeping Beauty about five years ago and I thought she was exquisite. She was charming as Aurora. Since she was mugged in NY about a week before the performance, I was afraid that she wouldn’t dance. And who could have blamed her if she had been frightened enough to leave NY. However, she danced as scheduled. Like many others on BA, I was disappointed that she did not dance the new Ratmansky version this past spring.

[Mashinka]

Isn't it time for Polunin and the RB to bury the hatchet? His problems there were with the previous management and I've a feeling he would find Kevin O'Hare a more sympathetic boss. I suppose the RB would have to weigh up SP's difficult temperament against the positives of regaining a superstar.

Osipova has proved a good fit with the RB and seems to have inherited much of the rep vacated by the wonderful Leanne Benjamin. She also inherited her regular partners, Watson, Acosta and MacRae. With Acosta leaving this year it would be ideal to invite Polunin back to fill the gap in the top ranks.

Disappointed that we won't get to see an Osipova/Macrae Giselle in London. In the past she's danced the role with Acosta, but this time around she'll have Golding as her partner, a dancer with whom she is physically mismatched. The return of Polunin would go down well with London's ballet goers and perhaps we would even witness the birth of an outstanding partnership.