It was in the month of July when a message from Marama Corlett was received by Ms Olivia Dow telling her that she was accepted for a three year intensive course at Urdang Academy in Covent Garden, London, where she intends to do a musical theatre course.

“Thank you for teaching me ballet so well!” she continued because in the preliminary auditions where everything they did was recorded and videoed, she felt she did extremely well and surpassed most of the applicants in her group. Marama did ballet, character dance, modern and contemporary choreographic work, drama under the guidance of Patrick Vella and vocal coaching by Jacqueline Micallef Grimaud at Olivia Dow School of Russian Ballet. All this instruction helped. Jacqueline Micallef Grimaud continued to coach her even after she graduated honours with distinction in her Classical Ballet Advanced Examination of the Russian Ballet Society of Great Britain.

Marama started ballet at the age of 11 at Olivia Dow School of Russian Ballet. Olivia and John immediately saw star potential in her when she first took part in the first Maltese ballet Stone Ghosts written by John Baldacchino and Lee Spiteri. They gave her a life-long scholarship which meant that all her ballet lessons were free of charge from day one! Apart from that, Marama was given leading parts in Olivia Dow’s Red Rose for a Ballerina written by John Baldacchino and composed by Mro Dominic Galea, Mro Joe Brown’s The Alien Princess, Slaves of Medina and Giants of Xlendi Bay all of which were written by John Baldacchino. She also performed in Tchaikovsky`s The Sleeping Beauty in which she played the part of Princess Aurora just before her final exam.

Ms Dow said “Marama Corlett has that certain unique magic on stage; no matter how she feels the night of the performance, when she goes on, she changes into a professional ballerina and shines like a star!” She partnered Ivan Porochine, a Russian soloist from the Perm Ballet and Opera Company in Perm, who was flown principally for her, to play Russ in Giants of Xlendi Bay and Prince Desiré in The Sleeping Beauty the year after. Marama Corlett excelled in both roles and was greatly admired by those who watched her live on stage and on television.

The final word that she was accepted on a full scholarship worth around £30,000 at Urdang Academy came after she had to undergo a second nail-biting eliminatory audition for their final choice.

Marama Corlett was chosen for her superb all-round talent; a talent which Olivia Dow and her husband John Baldacchino always knew she possessed. It was this which spurred them on to do everything in their power to help her develop.

Ms Dow augurs Marama more successes in her life and hopes she will emerge as a fully-fledged Maltese prima ballerina in the not too distant future.