Julia Farron is a retired English ballerina, most noted as one of the earliest and all time youngest members of The Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...

 in Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Overview

In 1931, Farron became the first pupil to receive a scholarship to study under the direction of Dame Ninette de Valois

Ninette de Valois

Dame Ninette de Valois, OM, CH, DBE, FRAD, FISTD was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet...

 at the Vic-Wells Ballet School. She made her professional stage debut in a pantomime in 1934, aged twelve. In 1936, having completed five years of study at the ballet school, she joined the Vic-Wells Ballet, becoming the company's youngest member, aged fourteen. The following year in 1937, she danced her first created role, Pepe the Dog, in the ballet A Wedding Boquet choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton

Frederick Ashton

Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.-Early life:Ashton was born at...

. Farron would stay with the company throughout its development into The Royal Ballet, eventually achieving the rank of principal dancer. Afer retiring from the professional stage, she was appointed as a teacher at the Royal Ballet School

Royal Ballet School

The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...

 in 1964. She was appointed Assistant Director of the Royal Academy of Dance

Royal Academy of Dance

The Royal Academy of Dance is an international dance education and training organization, and examination board that specialises in the teaching and technique of Ballet. The RAD was established in London, England in 1920 as the Association of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain, and received its...

 in 1982, becoming Director in 1983. and eventually retired in 1989, with an honorary life fellowship of the organisation (FRAD). In 1994, the Royal Academy of Dance awarded her the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award

Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award

The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award is an honour presented annually by the Royal Academy of Dance, to people who have made a significant contribution to the ballet and dance industry. The award was instituted by Dame Adeline Genee in 1953, to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and her...

 for outstanding services to ballet. Most recently, she has sponsored the redevelopment of the White Lodge Museum and Ballet Resource Centre.

Productions by Frederick Ashton

• Ondine
• Daphnis and Chloë
  Daphnis and Chloe
  Daphnis and Chloe is the only known work of the 2nd century AD Greek novelist and romancer Longus.-Setting and style:It is set on the isle of Lesbos during the 2nd century AD, which is also assumed to be the author's home. Its style is rhetorical and pastoral; its shepherds and shepherdesses are...
  
  
• Nocturne
  Nocturne
  A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night...
  
  

Productions by Nicholas Sergeyev

• The Sleeping Beauty
• Swan Lake
  Swan Lake
  Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
  
  

Productions by Kenneth MacMillan

• Romeo and Juliet
  Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan)
  In 1965 choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan's production of Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Ballet premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden....
  
  
• Giselle
  Giselle
  Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine...