Dancing Queen

Goring girl Francesca Hayward, 24, had her first role in a ballet school recital at Worthing Pavilion Theatre. Now she is principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. It has been an intense journey.

- Nione Meakin

FRANCESCA Hayward was practically born dancing. Even at three years old she recalls copying the steps from a video of The Nutcracker in the flat where she lived with her grandparents, John and Diana, in Aldsworth Parade, Goring. Her grandfather ran the chemists below and it wasn’t long before the young Francesca had tiptoed downstairs to dance in the shop too. Little did his amused customers know that the little girl pirouetting around the counter would grow up to become one of the Royal Ballet’s brightest new stars.

Now 24, Francesca – known to her friends as Frankie – has come a long way since she made her stage debut in a ballet school recital at Worthing Pavilion Theatre. Since joining the Royal Ballet Company in 2011 she has been cast in heavyweight roles from Juliet to Manon and has progressed rapidly from first artist to first soloist to principal dancer. The awards too have stacked up; after a series of major prizes while training, in February she took Best Female Dancer at the National Dance Awards – just two years after picking up the Emerging Artist Award. The excitement around her is palpable. “Is this Britain’s next great ballerina?” asked a recent profile in The Guardian.

But she knows better than to let herself get caught up in the hype. Standing in the wings as she prepares to perform roles made famous by ballet greats including Sylvie Guillem, she has found it is best not to overthink things.