The 77-year-old Bristol ballet dancer who still love to performs

A ballet dancer in her 70s who is still touring and has started her own theatre company says it is “wonderful” to still succeed in her profession.

Alexandra Pickford, 77, learned ballet at the Bristol School of Dancing aged 11 and has had a long and successful career touring the world. After her retirement, she decided to start her own theatre company, which has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, in Bristol and across Somerset.

The company is now getting ready for their next play, which will tour across the south west in March 2026.

“Older people have something to give, all our life experience but also something to learn,” Ms Pickford said.

After leaving the Bristol School of Dancing, Ms Pickford attended the Royal Ballet School, which is part of the Royal Academy of Dancing in London.

She joined a touring company after leaving school and danced in countries across the world as a soloist.

Later, she became a fitness teacher and retired at 60.

She said she almost immediately missed theatre and decided to start her own theatre company during the Covid lockdown.

“We did a very successful production which toured to the Edinburgh Fringe and sold out Bristol and theatres in Somerset,” Ms Pickford said.

She added that she still sometimes feels like an impostor.

“I had to learn to speak on stage – I’m a four-year-old actor,” she said.

“It’s wonderful for such an old lady to go back to beginnings, my physical powers are failing, that’s very difficult as a dancer. I suffer after performances,” she explained.

“Then I get up and do it again. It is wonderful to succeed in my profession at this age.”

Chris Harris-Beechey, an actor who has worked with Ms Pickford for years, said it is quite unusual to see people her age on stage.

“There’s fewer parts for older women, older people in general, but definitely older women,” Mr Harris-Beechey added.

“That’s one of the things I love about the play, it’s showing that you never have to stop.

“If there’s something you enjoy doing and you’re passionate about, there’s no point in letting yourself age out of that, there’ll always be a way for you to keep doing that.”

The new play Ms Pickford is working on, based on the life of historic figure Vesta Tilly, will premiere in March 2026.