Julia Farron

Who is Julia Farron?

Julia Farron OBE 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 in Covent Garden, London.

In 1931, Farron became the first pupil to receive a scholarship to study under the direction of Dame Ninette de Valois 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. 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 in 1964. She was appointed Assistant Director of the Royal Academy of Dance in 1982, becoming Director in 1983. and eventually retired in 1989, with an honorary life fellowship of the organisation. In 1994, the Royal Academy of Dance awarded her the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award for outstanding services to ballet. Most recently, she has sponsored the redevelopment of the White Lodge Museum and Ballet Resource Centre.