Returning to Sadler’s Wells after a year of international touring, Royal Ballet Principal dancer, Natalia Osipova, handpicked 7 dances from a range of choreographers to showcase for worldwide audiences. Featuring solos and duets from Osipova, American Ballet Theatre’s David Hallberg, Jason Kittelberger and Jonathan Goddard, Pure Dance explores different ways to use the body in classical and contemporary dance celebrating human connection in various forms.
Pure Dance opens with Antony Tudor’s The Leaves are Fading, partnered by American Ballet Theatre’s David Hallberg. This pas de deux is angelic and leans into the musicality to create a classical representation of drifting into the Winter seasons. Osipova and Hallberg dance beautifully together but it is not the strongest of opening dances.
The second piece, Left Behind by Kittelberger, shows off Osipova’s versatility into contemporary dance. Emotional and symbolic, the heavy door separates the two dancers. Kittelberger’s fluid movements are mesmerising and full of discomfort- crawling onto his head and shoulders- to show the effects of someone’s impact on you and the realisation coming to the surface when they’re gone.
