Worthing ballerina takes on title roles at Royal Ballet

Those of us who were lucky enough to see Francesca dancing as the young Clara in Tchaikovsky's immortal ballet The Nutcracker recently, whether live at London's Royal Opera House or beamed to one of the local cinemas (as well as around the world!) may not have realised that she was educated at one of our local schools: Our Lady of Sion in Worthing!

We always knew she was very talented as a singer, violinist and dancer so were not too surprised when at the age of ten she was offered a place at the prestigious Royal Ballet School at White Lodge in Richmond Park. Since then Francesca has been through the most rigorous training to attain some of the choicest and most demanding roles offered by the Royal Ballet, including the title roles of Juliet, Manon, and Alice, as well as in other recent performances. Her youthful suppleness, flawless technique, intelligence, modesty and charm, combined with her dazzling smiles, sense of fun and obvious enjoyment, have all combined to place her on the world stage at the very highest level.

The Royal Ballet is presenting a double bill very soon: The Two Pigeons (Stravinsky) and Rhapsody (Rachmaninov/Paganini). Francesca will again be starring in the latter as the Ballerina, and the good news is that this will also be beamed to local cinemas on Tuesday, 26 January, 2016, at 7.15 Whether you live in Worthing, other parts of Sussex or Great Britain, or anywhere in the world, be sure not to miss this exciting new talent…

Marilyn Hurdwell

Old Mead Road

Littlehampton