According to an old ballet commonplace, no one can beat the Russians when it comes to Swan Lake. Biased and historically inaccurate as this may be, the generalisation has a grain of truth. Russian ballerinas have always looked at ease with the popular classic. It matters little that it was created for an Italian star and partly choreographed by a French ballet master; Swan Lake is as Russian as vodka and comes magically to life when left in the hands — and legs — of Russian interpreters.
Which is what happened last week with the international superstar Natalia Osipova’s debut with the Royal Ballet. Osipova’s rise to fame started only recently, and many in this country still remember her dazzling rendition of Don Quixote. A few years and a few companies later, for she has long since left the Bolshoi with whom she first danced, she has come back to London to tackle the most difficult and demanding of works, in which dazzling technique alone is not enough.
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