|
Years later, the 23-year old has danced onto the stage at
London's Royal Opera House, winning rave reviews of her
performance in the ballet adaptation of William Shakespeare's
tragic love tale "Romeo and Juliet".
Raised by her grandparents in Sussex, Hayward began dancing at
three after watching a video of "The Nutcracker".
She joined The Royal Ballet School at 11, winning several
accolades and, after graduating into the company five years ago,
has quickly worked her way up to first soloist, taking principle
roles including the lead in "Manon" and the coveted Juliet.
"When I found out that I was going be Juliet, it felt much more
real than Manon, because Manon is one of those ballets that you
probably do after Juliet, so that never really sunk in to be
honest," Hayward said in an interview.
"But knowing that I was going to be Juliet ... I just felt so
excited and I couldn't believe that it really was going to be me
doing it."
The Royal Opera House opened its current season with "Romeo and
Juliet" 50 years after choreographer Kenneth MacMillan created
his version of the story for the Royal Bal, set to Russian
composer Sergei Prokofiev's score.
Following in the footsteps of renowned ballerinas such as Lynn
Seymour and Alessandra Ferri, Hayward danced as Juliet twice.
Ballet critics hailed the performance, with one saying it
"embodied all the founding virtues of the Royal Ballet".
"I definitely remember the few seconds right before I make my
first entrance, I kind of got quite emotional," Hayward said. "I
remembered all the times that I have done that when I was so
small in my living room and just to think that it was really
happening was quite a big moment."
Hayward appears on stage in "The Nutcracker" next month and in
Frederick Ashton's "Rhapsody" in January.
"I've never remembered suddenly realizing this (becoming a
ballerina) is what I'm going to do," she said.
"I just started and never stopped."
(Reporting By Vera Afdjei; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian;
Editing by Tom Heneghan)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
|
