 Her father, who was of Spanish ancestry, earned a meagre living as violinist and dancing-master, and from childhood she was trained for the stage.At ten years of age, she was given lessons by Françoise Prévost (1680–1741), then the first dancer at the Paris Opéra, and at once obtained an engagement as "premiere danseuse", first at Brussels and then at Rouen.She made her Paris debut on 5 May 1726 at the Paris Opera Ballet in "Les Caractères de la Danse".