FRANCESCA HAYWARD
Star principal dancer with the Royal Ballet
The ballerina and actress plans to brush up on her French until it’s time to make her ‘Swan Lake’ debut What I’m watching
I’m mostly watching the series Ozark at the moment, on Netflix, and really enjoying it. It’s a thriller about a husband and wife who find themselves, almost accidentally, involved with a Mexican drug cartel, and what they do every day to keep their family alive. It’s pretty intense, but it makes self-isolating at home look pretty simple. Every day, they think, well, that worked out OK – but then something else huge happens and they somehow have to deal with it. The new series actually started the day before what would have been my Swan Lake debut – such a shame, but one day!
What I’m listening to
If I hear some music I like in a film, I’m that person who’s always Shazam-ing (Shazam, by the way, is a great app that identifies any music you play it down the phone) – so, I was watching the sci-fi film I Origins a few days ago, and that got me back into Radiohead, who did the soundtrack. Also, I realised that what I do a lot is just listen to one song from my favourite bands, but I never listen to whole albums, and I think I’m going to use this time to change that. You know – do it properly.
What I’m reading
Three Women, by Lisa Taddeo. It’s about three women who don’t know each other – they’re completely separate stories – and it’s about female desire, but in very different, complex situations. Also,
I’ve got a really good tip: an app called Blinkist. What it does is it reads all those humongous educational books for people like me who haven’t got time to read them, like Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.
I wanted to read it, but I knew it would take me two years. The app condenses the entire book into a 15-minute, everything-youneed-to-know chunk that you read on screen. It’s like a cheat’s guide.
The hobby I’ve taken up
I took A-level French, but whenever I go to Paris I’m too shy to speak it. I started French lessons again a little while ago, but I’ve been really bad about doing my homework. So now I’m really going to go for it for the next few weeks, and I’m asking my teacher to do Skype lessons with me. He’s got an amazing approach, which is basically: don’t try to remember stuff. It sounds stupid, but the more you try to remember something, the more you’re going to forget it. If you let yourself forget it and constantly remind yourself, again and again, that’s the way to learn, because it goes into a deeper part of your brain. It’s a little bit like losing yourself in the steps on stage once they’ve sunk in – muscle memory.
What made me laugh recently
Falling over as I tried to balance doing daily ballet practice in my kitchen with a wonky floor. Also, there’s a wonderful video online of the penguins at a Chicago aquarium being let out to wander around freely because it was closed to visitors!
What I’m most looking forward to once all this is over
Hopefully making my Odette/odile debut in
Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House with my grandparents there to watch. I honestly can’t wait to see them.
I fell over doing ballet practice on my wonky kitchen floor