Francesca Velicu is a Romanian ballet dancer. She is a junior soloist at the

English National Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

. In 2018, she won the

Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance The Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End ...

Early life

Velicu was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, Romania. She trained at Choreography High School Floria Capsali in Bucharest and The Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow.

Career

In 2015, at age 17, Velicu joined the Romanian National Ballet, which was directed by

Johan Kobborg Johan Kobborg (born 5 June 1972) is a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, director and visual artist. He is most noted as a ballet dancer, having been a principal dancer with both the Royal Danish Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London, as well a ...

. Kobborg cast her in soloist roles immediately. She also met

Alina Cojocaru Alina Cojocaru (born 27 May 1981) is a Romanian ballet dancer. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet and a lead principal with the English National Ballet. Early years Alina Cojocaru was born and raised in Bucharest, Roman ...

, Kobborg's partner and Velicu's idol. However, in 2016, Kobbarg and Cojocaru resigned from the company after the new leadership's actions. After that, Cojocaru suggested Velicu to audition for the

, where Cojocaru is a lead principal dancer. After Velicu auditioned in Paris,

Tamara Rojo Tamara Rojo CBE (born 17 May 1974) is a Spanish ballet dancer. She is the English National Ballet's artistic director (2012–2022) and a lead principal dancer with the company. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. She ...

, the company's artistic director, offered Velicu a contract to join the company as an Artist. She moved to London within a week. In 2017, she danced The Chosen One in

Pina Bausch Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylized blend of dance mov ...

's ''

Le Sacre du printemps ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...

'', and was praised by critics. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' noted, "her performance has the power and stagecraft of an adult but the sobbing terror of a child." Later that year, she was promoted to First Artist. In 2018, at age 19, she won the

for ''Le Sacre du printemps''. She reprised the role in 2019. She had also danced Clara/Sugar Plum Fairy in ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

''.

Selected repertoire

*Clara/Sugar Plum Fairy, Chinese and Spanish in ''

'' *Odalisque in '' Le Corsaire'' *Pas de Trois in ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'' *Princess Florine in ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'' *Third principal couple in ''No Man's Land'' *The Chosen One in ''

'' *Kitri in ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

'' *The first couple in ''

Theme and Variations In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve melody, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these. Variation techniques Mozart's Twelve ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velicu, Francesca Romanian ballerinas English National Ballet dancers Entertainers from Bucharest Living people 1990s births Moscow State Academy of Choreography alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners 21st-century ballet dancers Romanian expatriates in Russia Romanian expatriates in England