Natalia Osipova: I could only live in London or Milan, New York’s too stressful

I'll be a specially wicked Black Swan. I can't believe that I'm to dance with a Siegried younger than me, the 21-year-old Claudio Coviello, who is making his début in the role: my Odile will seduce him, break his heart and destroy him.

says Natalia Osipova on the eve of her début in Rudolf Nureyev's version of Swan Lake (Lago dei Cigni) that he created for La Scala in 1990.

What wouldn't I give to be able to see Nureyev dance.  To think about me dancing with him gives me goose bumps.

She told the Corriere della Sera‘s Valeria Crippa.

I like Nureyev's version because it goes straight to the heart of the story without wasting time, concentrating of the three main characters: Odette/Odile, Seifried and Rothbart. In this way the ballet is more intense: dreams, betrayal, death.

From next season Osipova will join the Royal Ballet and she is looking for a home in London. She also has several contracts in Milan for 2014.

There are two cities in the world where I would live: London and Milan. They have the right rhythm for me, not stressful like New York or soporific like St Petersburg.

Three years ago she was mugged in New York after a Sleeping Beauty with the American Ballet Theatre.

My bag only contained a pair of ballet slippers, but they weren't demented fans, just two thugs. It was my fault, you don't walk down certain streets in Manhattan at 2 o'clock at night!

Natalia Osipova dances with Claudio Coviello in Swan Lake tonight at Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
17, 18, 23, 24 July, 14, 15, 17, 18 October
Information: +39 02 72003744

Photo credit: Brescia/Amisano, Teatro alla Scala

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.