The current talking-point at the Royal Ballet is the Russians milling around. One can sound unfortunately as if one’s starting a Ukip conversation here, but the Royal Ballet never used to be short of half a dozen home principals, any one of whom could be looked on as sufficiently glittery to attract the opening-night audience.
Right now, though, the recent loss of a wonderful generation of artists — Cojocaru, Kobborg, Rojo, Benjamin, Polunin — has left the top rank rather thinned of true star quality, especially among the women. Hence the excitement at the recruiting to the Royal of Natalia Osipova from the Mikhailovsky and Bolshoi, Vadim Muntagirov from English National Ballet, and the guests Iana Salenko and Evgenia Obraztsova recently in Swan Lake.
Osipova, with that fabulous jump and heedless emotional soul, has been proving every inch the daring artist in all her new roles at the Royal this season.
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