Born in Ajaccio on March 12, 1972, to Christian and Paulette Ciaravola,[1] she began ballet classes as a child in her native Corsica before she was identified at the age of 13 as having exceptional promise while on a course in continental France.
[2] As a result, she studied under Christiane Vaussard at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning the First Prize in 1988 at the age of 16.
Only in 2003 did she become a première danseuse which allowed her to dance as a leading soloist, with opportunities for deciding which works she wanted to pursue.
[3] In 2009, after the first performance of John Cranko's, Oneguin, Ciaravola and her dance partner, Mathias Heymann, were promoted to étoile.
After being a member of the Paris ballet for 24 years, she retired from the stage in February 2014 receiving a thirty-minute standing ovation.