list.co.uk/festival Natalia Osipova | FESTIVAL FEATURES
P H O T O S :
I B L L C O O P E R
RUSSELL MALIPHANT – SILENT ECHO ARTHUR PITA – RUN MARY RUN
Also an associate artist at Sadler’s Wells, Maliphant trained at the Royal Ballet School before dancing with companies such as DV8 and Michael Clark. As a choreographer he has created many works for his own company, which he formed in 1996, as well as for English National Ballet, BalletBoyz and Sylvie Guillem to name but a few. Born in South Africa, and trained at London Contemporary Dance School, Pita performed with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures before turning to choreography. As well as several productions at London’s Royal Opera House (choreographing for both the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera), he has created works for Phoenix Dance, Ballet Black and Candoco.
‘Natalia has, of course, excellent strength, articulation and precision, that’s ‘I’m a big fan of Natalia, I love what she does and how she does it,’ says Pita.
already a great start,’ says Maliphant. ‘But more than that, she’s open-minded to new vocabularies, and is familiar with techniques which are very different from the usual techniques employed in classical training.
‘Our shared foundations in classical ballet and hunger to try new possibilities was a starting point for Silent Echo. I wanted to utilise elements and qualities of the mastery Natalia and Sergei have in classical technique, and broaden that language into something that could be contemporary.
‘I hope the piece will show their remarkable artistry in a new light and allow the audience to see the incredible classical technique of these two remarkable dancers in a new way.’
‘First of all, it’s her body technically – what she can do. She’s got a wonderful spring to her jump and she can really turn. She’s a free, wild spirit, but she can also be very focused. ‘In Run Mary Run, I wanted to give her a character because I know she
loves acting, but I wanted to i nd something that maybe we hadn’t seen from her before. Because she has this amazing artistic talent, you really want to provide the space, movement and scenario where she can feel free to act and interpret. ‘The piece is a kind of 1960s sex, drugs, rock’n’roll scenario: girl meets rebel boy and enters a relationship which is almost obsessive. And those rebel boys had a kind of melancholy about them which Sergei also has, as well as such a natural ability, and of course he partners Natalia so well.’
Natalia Osipova and Guests, Festival Theatre, 473 2000, 12–14 Aug, 7.30pm, £12–£32 (£6–£16). 11–18 Aug 2016 THE LIST FESTIVAL 15