<B>Alina the ballerina</B><BR>Alina Cojocaru was just 19 years old when she was promoted to the rank of principal at the Royal Ballet. Here, in between the giggles, she tells Lewis Jones of her journey from Romania to Covent Garden, where this week she performs as Olga in Onegin.<P> <BR>THERE is a fairytale feel to the story of Alina Cojocaru, something of Cinderella. A daughter of the Romanian proletariat, chosen as a child by Russian ballet masters for training in Kiev, this year at Covent Garden, at the remarkably early age of 19, she was promoted on-stage - a signal honour, comparable to battlefield promotion for a soldier - to the rank of principal at the Royal Ballet. <P><A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=006633041200776&rtmo=Vrkrqk6K&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/01/11/21/tlana.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

We have this one in Performance, but I thought we might as well have it here as well<P><B>Alina Cojocaru: A right cracker</B><BR>She leapt to stardom aged 19. So what’s next for Alina Cojocaru? Well, isn’t it time for a fairy, she tells Clifford Bishop in The Sunday Times.<BR> <P>Alina Cojocaru walks through the door with one sock flapping from the end of her foot, hugging an old tutu like a comfort blanket. When we meet, the Royal Ballet’s youngest principal dancer is preparing to make her debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy, but looks like she is auditioning for the role of third waif in a school production of Oliver! Even by the standards of a profession not noted for big bones and puppy fat, Cojocaru is diminutive. “The first question everyone asks,” she says, “is whether I am eating. Then — I don’t know why — they ask if I have ever been in love.” <P><A HREF="http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/article/0,,9013-2001570182,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited December 16, 2001).]

<P>Ismene Brown of The Telegraph contributes to a piece by the critics on 'those to be watched' in 2002. Her choice, (not a surprise!), is Alina Cojocaru. Scroll down for the piece on Alina:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Codge-oh-car-ooh. This is how to say the name of the young Royal Ballet artist who, at the age of 20, is already talked of as one of the great world ballerinas of the future<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/01/01/bacs201.xml&sSheet=/arts/2002/01/01/ixtop.html" TARGET=_blank><B>scroll down for more...</B></A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Emma Pegler (edited January 01, 2002).]