A young Pendle ballet dancer has landed a place in the cast for an English Youth Ballet production – for the second successive year!
Molly Stephenson (12), from Fence, will appear in “Coppelia” at the Stockport Plaza this evening and tomorrow – in afternoon and evening shows – as one of the helpers of the ballet’s principal character, Swanhilde.
Last year, she was in “Swan Lake” at the Charter Theatre in Preston.
Molly, a pupil at St Augustine’s RC High School in Billington and the Angela Westwell School of Dance in Clitheroe, was selected at an audition in February from over 200 young hopefuls.
She will appear alongside the EYB’s stunning international principal artists where she will gain an insight into what life is like as a professional ballet dancer.
Molly has been rehearsing at Stockport Grammar School in a 10-day intensive rehearsal process.
The rehearsals take place in three studios in the school and the dancers follow a complex timetable of rehearsals.
Each rehearsal day starts with a ballet class to warm-up and then different scenes of the ballet are rehearsed simultaneously in the three studios. The rehearsal day always finishes with the full cast in the biggest studio showing each other what has been learned that day.
And proud mum Gill will also be playing a part in the show - she is helping out backstage over the two days.
She said: “We are absolutely delighted for Molly. She was thrilled to get through the audition and is really looking forward to playing the parts.”
Gill said her daughter was undecided as to whether she wanted to be a dancer in the future but was leaning towards a career in theatre or choreography.
