Cara Drower MA FISTD Cecc Dip began her training with Dulcie Howes, David Poole
and Cecily Robinson at the University of Cape Town Ballet School in South Africa. She
continued at the Arts Educational School Tring Park England and, subsequently, attended
the National Ballet School in Australia during which time she attended extra curricula
classes with a pupil of Cecchetti, Madame Lucie Saronova.
Her performing career began as a member of the West Australian Ballet Company under the
direction of Kira Bousloff, Kiril Vasilkovsky and Gunhild Sobkowiak. She was a founder
member of the Northern Ballet Company, directed by Laverne Meyer, participating in the
first trial season in Manchester in March 1969. Cara continued her performing career in
Europe, firstly in Gothenburg where she combined her performance commitments with that
of Ballet Mistress, working with Harald Lander on Etudes and Conny Borg on Roland
Petit’s Carmen and his new production of Nutcracker. Later she worked in Lübeck Germany
where she assisted with the production of Cabaret, and Münster where she combined her
theatre commitments with the teaching of young children.
At the conclusion of her performing career she returned to the Arts Educational School
Tring as Head of Dance for eighteen years. During this time she completed her
qualifications, tutored by Eve Pettinger with extra guidance from Peggy Marsh (a pupil of
Cecchetti), reinstated the Cecchetti work into the school’s Ballet curriculum and became an
examiner. She held the position of Deputy Principal of the West Street School in London
until its closure in 1992 and took over the Directorship of the Cecchetti Centre in London
in 1993, a position she held until the end of 2002. Cara taught the Cecchetti work on the
teachers’ course at the Royal Ballet School from 1994-2000 during which time she
completed a Masters Degree in Ballet Studies at Roehampton University under the tutelage
of Giannandrea Poesio.
As an examiner of nearly forty years she has travelled extensively both in the UK, and
internationally, teaching and promoting the Cecchetti work. Over the years she has delivered
new syllabus content at the National Ballet School in Toronto Canada, taught courses in
Malta, Portugal and Japan and enjoyed regular Summer visits to the Cecchetti Council of
America. The latter gave her honorary membership in 2005 at their teachers’ course in
Michigan USA. Her contribution to Cecchetti work in the UK was recognised when she
was awarded the Cecchetti Gold Medal in 2003. Her work has encompassed Cecchetti
Faculty committee membership of the ISTD 1987-2002 and 2014-2020, the directing of
children and students’ Summer Schools 1984-2010, and attendance of various working
groups for syllabi revision, including the DDE qualification for the Cecchetti Faculty of the
ISTD in 2018. Most recently she has been involved with the introduction of remote
examinations for the Cecchetti Faculty of the ISTD in 2020.
Currently Cara continues to promote the Cecchetti work both in the UK for the Cecchetti
Centre, the ISTD, and through her collaboration with the Cecchetti Institute in Washington
DC USA.