Francesca Hayward Raises the Barre by Ekua King in Porter Edit October 18, 2021

The Royal Ballet’s Francesca Hayward is known for her honest but also diplomatic assessment of life in the notoriously clubby world of ballet. There’s little pretense with Hayward — like her telling Porter Edit interviewer Kadish Morris:

“I don’t come from a dance family, so my whole career has been about just giving it a go and seeing what happens.”

Hayward credits Kevin O’Hare, director of the Royal Ballet, for seeing clearly her potential. “He plucked me out of the water very quickly and said, ‘You can do this.’”

Francesca Hayward is styled by Jenny Kennedy in luxe fashion from Alaïa, A.W.A.K.E, Bottega Veneta, Dries Van Noten, Erdem, Molly Goddard, Saint Laurent, Simone Rocha and more. Ekua King [IG] captures the rising star in ‘Raise the Barre’ for Porter Edit’s October 18, 2021 cover story.

Bob Dylan Helps Hayward Prepare to Perform

The dancer was born in Nairobi, Kenya, then moved to West Sussex at age two, living with her grandparents. She is presently set to dance as Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, a part very familiar to her. “It’s in my body,” Hayward explains, adding that her chief concern is not to go on autopilot.

Of great interest to AOC is her principal role in Royal Ballet resident choreographer Wayne McGregor’s ‘The Dante Project’, a major collaboration timed with the 700th anniversary of poet Dante Aligheri’s death.

In another interesting factoid, Francesca Hayward listens to Bob Dylan in the final hours of preparing for a concert. “That seems to really calm me down,” she explains.

Framing Prejudice as ‘Imbalance’

On the topic of the rise of activism, Francesca Hayward is circumspect and dedicated to raising the convo around the world of ballet. “I think it is ingrained into ballet dancers from our very first class that we should be so grateful to be here, that we are so lucky doing what we’re doing. But we should be able to speak out,” she tells Morris.

When AOC calls Hayward ‘diplomatic’, here’s an example of how she doesn’t mention the words ‘racism’, ‘prejudice,’ ‘white superiority’ but only ‘diversity’. in a word chain that we will consider fully, Francesca Hayward uses the word ‘imbalance’ to describe the reality of racism. What a fascinating, nonjudgmental communication umbrella to frame racial ugliness or even hate with the more innocuous word ‘imbalance.’

“Sometimes, people don’t know anything about the ballet world – and, if they do, they usually have very old-fashioned views,” she says of the perceptions that she is often met with. “I’m passionate about trying to educate the general public. For me, this ties into everything. It ties into diversity and how we can improve on imbalance.”

Never Let Them See You Sweat

Hayward’s references to managing fear and nervousness in the performing arts or the public space generally also resonate as very good advice — an AOC mantra, in fact:

“Don’t look SCARED. People who can smell fear might exploit it. Look STRONG — even if you’re not feeling strong on the INSIDE.”

Francesca Hayward is performing at London’s Royal Opera House in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ from October 5-23; ‘The Dante Project’ from October 14-30; ‘Giselle’ from November 22-27, and ‘The Nutcracker’ from December 7-16