Francesca Hayward Biography
Francesca Hayward is an English award-winning ballerina serving as a principal dancer in the Royal Ballet as Covent Garden in London. Besides ballet, she is known for appearing in the British musical fantasy film, “Cats”.
Francesca Hayward Age
She was born on July 1992 in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya in Africa. As of 2019, she is 27 years old.
Early Life
Francesca was born to an English father whereas her mother was of Kenyan origin. At age 2, she relocated to Worthing in West Sussex where she started living with her grandparents. With time, she started gaining interest in ballet. She learned and danced at the Le Serve School of Ballet and Theatre Dance in Worthing.
Francesca Hayward kept dancing until one day when she auditioned to White Lodge, the junior section of the royal ballet, after receiving advice from her teacher. She managed to make it to the Royal Ballet at 9 years old. She served as a junior Associate at the Royal Ballet until she was 11 years old when she entered the School at the age of 11 in 2003. Five years later, she rose through the ranks and joined the Royal Ballet Upper School.
Career
In 2010, Francesca Hayward finally joined the Royal Ballet. Just like in her training, she was seen as an exceptional dancer. Subsequently, she was cast in some of the best roles in many major productions. In 2013, three years after joining, she managed to make it to First Artist. The year after, she became a Soloist. The next year after, she became First Soloist and finally Principal in 2016. Through this time, her expertise and talent in Ballet have got her widespread fame and recognition.
In 2012, she made her first performance in Clara in The Nutcracker at Covent Garden. Sometime before, she danced alongside James Hay in a pas de deux from The Flower Festival in Genzano at the Erik Bruhn Competition in Canada. Toward the end of 2018, Francesca Howard joined the cast of the film “Cats”. She is set to play as Victoria. Due to this new-found role, she was given a temporary leave of absence from the Royal Ballet until she finishes her filming.
Francesca Hayward of the Royal Ballet
Francesca returned to the Royal Ballet in May 2019. Her first performance after her return was alongside Cesar Corrales in his ROH debut in Romeo and Juliet. She has also danced as Princess Florine and Fairy of the Songbird in Sleeping Beauty, Rose Fairy in The Nutcracker, in Robert Binet’s immersive work, The Dreamers Ever Leave You. Besides that, she was also featured in the BBC Documentary film, “Dancing the Nutcracker: Inside the Royal Ballet”. Soon after, her performance as Clara in Sir Peter Wright’s production of The Nutcracker was recorded for DVD by Opus Arte.
Francesca Hayward Awards
At the 2016 Critics Circle Awards, Francesa managed to come out with a Grishko Award for Best Female Dancer and the Best Emerging Artist award. In 2010 at the Genee International Ballet Competition, she took home the silver medal and Audience Choice Award. That same year, she also got the 2010 Young British Dancer Award of the Year Award. Lastly, she won the 2009 Lynn Seymour Award for Expressive Dance while still a student at the Royal Ballet Academy.
She was featured along with 14 other women on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British Vogue, guest-edited by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.