Understudy gets chance , becomes success . Five minutes after she took the stage with Massine in ' La Boutique Fantasque ' at Covent Garden , Opera House last night , 21 year old Moira Shearer , understudy to Margot Fonteyn , the prima ballerina of the Sadler 's Wells Company , who is away ill was greeted with a burst of applause . That as she ended her ' Can Can ' dance . When the balletended Miss Shearer was given a second ovation lasting five minutes , with eight curtain calls , and Massine , greatest dancer of them all , led her to the footlights to take her bow . Photo shows , Miss Moira Shearer , arm raised , during her performance , at the Covent Garden Opera House last night . 28 February 1947