Francesca Velicu

Birthplace
Bucharest, Romania

Training
Choreography High School Floria Capsali, Bucharest; Bolshoi Ballet Academy

English National Ballet
Joined 2016, promoted to First Artist 2017, Junior Soloist 2022.

Previous company 
Romanian National Ballet

Repertoire
Notable roles and ballets include Clara/Sugar Plum Fairy, Chinese and Spanish in Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker; Odalisque in Le Corsaire; Pas de Trois in Derek Deane’s Swan Lake; Princess Florine (Bluebird) in MacMillan’s Sleeping Beauty; third principal couple in Liam Scarlett’s No Man’s Land; The Chosen One in Pina Bausch’s Le Sacre du Printemps. Created roles include Arielle Smith’s Jolly Folly.

Career highlight
Winner of 2017 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for her performance as The Chosen One in Pina Bausch’s Le Sacre du printemps; dancing Kitri from Don Quixote and the first couple in George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations 

Favourite role 
Manon

Role would like to dance 
Juliet

Other info
2013 – Second Place YAGP (Youth America Grand Prix) Junior category, 2013 Finalist YAGP, New York and 2012 Gold Medal – World Ballet Competition. Loves painting and singing and animals and has a puppy named Richie. Francesca was named in Pointe Magazine’s ‘Stars of the Corps’ list following her performances as the Chosen One in Pina Bausch’s Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) in 2017.  Awarded the 2018 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for her role as the Chosen One in Pina Bauch’s Le Sacre du printemps. Finalist at the 2018 Emerging Dancer Competition. In 2019 she reprised her role as the Chosen One in Le Sacre du printemps