The Royal's Sarah Lamb.

She was mesmerizing and heartbreaking," enthused one audience member after Sarah Lamb's debut last October in Johan Kobborg's La Sylphide. It was praise echoed by many. Lamb's performance as the mischievous but tragic Sylph took her to new heights. Soft as a snowflake and ethereal as a butterfly, she danced with spontaneity and delight. She skimmed the stage seemingly without touching it, her slowly unfurled balances steady, and her technique exemplary.

A graduate of the Boston Ballet School, Lamb joined Boston Ballet in 1998 as a corps member and became a principal by 2003, dancing many of the top classical roles. That same year she joined The Royal Ballet as a first soloist. So why did she jete across the Atlantic and drop a rank?

"I'm half British, and my introduction to the ballet world was actually The Royal Ballet, since my grandmother was a great ballet fan. I grew up hearing about Fonteyn, Helpmann, and the Sadlers Wells Ballet," she said. "I've always known that the Royal was a phenomenal company with an extensive repertoire--and I wanted to be part of it."

Was it easy for an American--an outsider--to fit in? "I needed courage to go into the studio for fire first time," Lamb said. "I blew a few dancers, which helped. I had danced with Zenaida Yanowsky's brother and with Carlos Acosta in Boston and with Viaeheslav Samodurov at a gala. It was only a little while before everyone was most welcoming. It's human nature to be suspect of new people. Nearly all the dancers have known each other since they were 10 and they'd chat about things I didn't understand. And there were words I hadn't heard before, such as being asked if I was 'poorly,' which I thought meant having no money. Now I know that it means 'not feeling well'!"

Lamb quickly made her mark with leading roles in Kenneth MacMillan's Requiem, and Ashton's Sylvia and Cinderella. In May, she stepped into the role of Odette/Odile for a principal on maternity leave and made a deep impression on the Covent Garden audiences--and on Tatiana Legat, her coach from Boston who came over to see her.

Lamb has not only won medals at three international ballet competitions but she was a straight A student at school, applied to Harvard to study literature and philosophy, and became a Presidential scholar in 1998. So how, given her academic background, has she been able to satisfy her mind as well as her dancing in London? "I read lots of books" she answered. "But we have a heavy performance schedule so it's been hard to get out and see things. And now that I am dancing so much, I'm always having to sew ribbons on my shoes. So my dad sent me some tapes to listen to while sewing." And what are they? "Oh, university lectures on physics," she replied.

There must be very few ballerinas on either side of the pond who can compete with that!