Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE (17 September 1904 – 18 October 1988) was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.

Early life[link]

Ashton was born at Guayaquil in Ecuador, in the artistic neighbourhood called Las Peñas, the original founding site of the city. When he was three years old he moved with his family to Lima in Peru.

When he was 13 he witnessed a life-changing event when he attended a performance by the legendary Anna Pavlova in the Municipal Theater in Lima, Peru. He was so impressed that from that day on he was determined that he would become a dancer.

Career[link]

In 1919 he went to England to attend Dover College and then to study under the famous Léonide Massine and established a working relationship with the ballet troupe belonging to Marie Rambert and Ninette de Valois. His aim was to become a great dancer, but his late introduction to dancing and slight physique made this a highly difficult ambition to fulfill. However, Rambert discovered Ashton's aptitude for choreography and allowed him to choreograph his first ballet, The Tragedy of Fashion, in 1926, starting a tremendously successful career as a choreographer.

He began his career with the Ballet Rambert which was originally called The Ballet Club. He rose to fame with Vic-Wells Ballet (later to become the Sadler's Wells Ballet before it was designated The Royal Ballet), becoming its resident choreographer in the 1930s. Work from this decade that has stayed in repertory includes Les Patineurs, Les Rendezvous, and A Wedding Bouquet.

World War II inspired Ashton to create some works along more sombre lines, including Dante Sonata (recently reconstructed after having been thought lost), and after the war he turned to plotless ballet, with such works as Symphonic Variations and Scènes de ballet.

The end of the war saw his first major three-act ballet for a British company, his version of Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella (1948), which was followed by Sylvia (1952), and Ondine (1958), with choreography created especially to display Margot Fonteyn's unique talents and music by Hans Werner Henze. While Ondine was a vehicle for Fonteyn, Marguerite and Armand displayed the excellence of Fonteyn's partnership with Rudolf Nureyev. His version of La fille mal gardée was particularly successful, and his broad travesti performances as one of two comic Ugly Stepsisters in Cinderella, the other being Robert Helpmann, were annual events for many years.

Ashton was Director of the Royal Ballet from 1963 to 1970. He brought new works by Antony Tudor to the company, as well as guaranteeing the survival of several of Bronislava Nijinska's ballets by having her mount Les Noces and Les Biches. Two important revivals of George Balanchine's works also marked Ashton's time as Director.

He also enjoyed a productive career away from ballet as a choreographer for films, revues, and musicals. His work in opera included, in 1953, directing Kathleen Ferrier in Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice at Covent Garden. In 1971, Ashton performed the role of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle in the Royal Ballet film The Tales of Beatrix Potter, which he also choreographed.^[1]. Ashton was also responsible for choreographing the dance sequences in "The Jealous Lover" segment of the film The Story of Three Loves.

He died in 1988 at his home, Chandos Lodge, in Eye, Suffolk, England.

Personal life[link]

According to biographies such as Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton, Sir Frederick Ashton was gay.

Ashton was a great friend of the Paget family and was a frequent visitor to the family seat at Plas Newydd; it was there that one of the Paget daughters, Lady Rose fell hopelessly in love with him; he rebuffed her advances and at one point returned her letters - after having corrected her spelling. Despite this, they remained friends.

Ashton's nephew, Anthony Russell-Roberts, was Administrative Director of The Royal Ballet from 1983 to 2009.

Honours[link]

Ashton received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dance in 1959. In 1962, he was knighted for his services to ballet. He was admitted into the French Légion d'honneur in the same year. He was made a Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1963, and was awarded the Gold Medal from the Carina Aria Foundation in Sweden in 1972.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Frederick Ashton (1904-1988 Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. John Percival, for Royal Opera House's magazine produced for December 2007 production of Les Patineurs and Tales of Beatrix Potter.

Further reading[link]

• Frederick Ashton: a choreographer and his ballets by Zoë Dominic and John Selwyn Gilbert. London: Harrap, 1971. ISBN-X
• Frederick Ashton and his ballets by David Vaughan. London: A. and C. Black, 1977. ISBN-X
• Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton by Julie Kavanagh. London: Faber, 1996. ISBN
• Following Sir Fred's Steps: Ashton's Legacy edited by Stephanie Jordan and Andrée Grau. London: Dance Books, 1996. ISBN (also available in an online edition - see below)
• A network of Styles: Discovering the Choreographed Movement of Frederick Ashton by Geraldine Morris. University of Surrey, 2000.

External links[link]

• Ballet.co Ashton pages
• Following Sir Fred's Steps
• Parents
• Frederick Ashton's "Cinderella" ballet
• David Vaughan's chronology of Ashton ballets
• Notes on the 'Fred Step' by Alastair Macaulay
• Dover College
• Danceview's Ashton Archive
• Tutu Revue essay by Clive Barnes
• Rambert Dance Company's Ashton pages
• London Theatre Museum's Ashton pages
• Archive film of Frederick Ashton's Thais Pas de Deux performed by Nina Ananiashvili and David Ananeli in 2010 at Jacob's Pillow

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Anna Pavlova
Anna Pavlova, ca. 1905.
Born	Анна Павловна (Матвеевна) Павлова (1881-02-12)February 12, 1881 Ligovo, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	January 23, 1931(1931-01-23) (aged 49) The Hague, Netherlands

Anna Pavlova (Russian: А́нна Па́вловна; February 12 [O.S. January 31] 1881 – January 23, 1931) was a Russian ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the finest classical ballet dancers in history and was most noted as a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. Pavlova is most recognised for the creation of the role The Dying Swan and, with her own company, became the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world.

Early life[link]

Photographic postcard of Anna Pavlova as the Princess Aspicia in the Petipa/Pugni The Pharaoh's Daughter, Saint Petersburg, c. 1910

Аnna Pavlova costumed for the Pandéros in the Petipa/Glazunov Raymonda, Saint Petersburg, 1910

Her mother was a laundress named Lyubov Feodorovna. The identity of her father has been open to debate. She later claimed her father had died when she was two years old. Some sources, including The Saint Petersburg Gazette, have claimed that her illegitimate father was the Jewish–Russian banker Lazar Polyakov.^[1] Her mother's second husband, Matvey Pavlov, is believed to have adopted her at the age of three, by which she acquired his last name.

Pavlova's passion for the art of ballet was ignited when her mother took her to a performance of Marius Petipa's original production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Imperial Maryinsky Theater. The lavish spectacle made an impression on the young Pavlova, and at the age of nine she was taken by her mother to audition for the renowned Imperial Ballet School. Because of her age, and what was considered to be a "sickly" appearance, she was not chosen, but in 1891 she was finally accepted, at the age of 10. She appeared for the first time on stage in Marius Petipa's Un conte de fées (A Fairy Tale), which the ballet master staged for the students of the school.

The young Pavlova's years of training were difficult, as classical ballet did not come easily to her. Her severely arched feet, thin ankles, and long limbs clashed with the small and compact body in favor for the ballerina at the time. Her fellow students taunted her with such nicknames as The broom and La petite sauvage (The little savage). Undeterred, Pavlova trained to improve her technique. She took extra lessons from the noted teachers of the day — Christian Johansson, Pavel Gerdt, Nikolai Legat and more especially from Enrico Cecchetti, considered the greatest ballet virtuoso of the time and founder of the Cecchetti method, a very influential ballet technique used up to this day. In 1898 she entered the classe de perfection of Ekaterina Vazem, former Prima ballerina of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theatres.

During her final year at the Imperial Ballet School, she performed many roles with the principal company. She graduated in 1899 at age 18, being allowed to enter the Imperial Ballet a rank ahead of corps de ballet as a coryphée. She made her official début at the Mariinsky Theatre in Pavel Gerdt's Les Dryades prétendues (The False Dryads). Her performance drew praise from the critics, particularly the great critic and historian Nikolai Bezobrazov.

Career[link]

Pavlova rose through the ranks quickly, becoming a favorite of the old maestro Petipa. It was from Petipa himself that Pavlova learned the title role in Paquita, Princess Aspicia in The Pharaoh's Daughter, Queen Nisia in Le Roi Candaule, and Giselle. She was named danseuse in 1902, première danseuse in 1905, and finally prima ballerina in 1906 after a resounding performance in Giselle. Petipa revised many grand pas for her, as well as many supplemental variations. She was much celebrated by the fanatical balletomanes of Tsarist Saint Petersburg, her legions of fans calling themselves the Pavlovatzi.

When the prima ballerina assoluta of the Imperial Theaters Mathilde Kschessinska was pregnant in 1901, she coached Pavlova in the role of Nikya in La Bayadère. Kschessinska, not wanting to be upstaged, was certain Pavlova would fail in the role, as she was considered technically inferior because of her small ankles and lithe legs. Instead audiences became enchanted with Pavlova and her frail, ethereal look, which fitted the role perfectly, particularly in the scene The Kingdom of the Shades.

Anna Pavlova in the Fokine/Saint-Saëns The Dying Swan, Saint Petersburg, 1905

Her feet were extremely rigid, so she strengthened her pointe shoe by adding a piece of hard wood on the soles for support and curving the box of the shoe. At the time, many considered this "cheating", for a ballerina of the era was taught that she, not her shoes, must hold her weight en pointe. In Pavlova's case this was extremely difficult, as the shape of her feet required her to balance her weight on her little toes. Her solution became, over time, the precursor of the modern pointe shoe, as pointe work became less painful and easier for curved feet. According to Margot Fonteyn's biography, Pavlova did not like the way her invention looked in photographs, so she would remove it or have the photographs altered so that it appeared she was using a normal pointe shoe.^[2]

Pavlova is perhaps most renowned for creating the role of The Dying Swan, a solo choreographed for her by Michel Fokine. The ballet, created in 1905, is danced to Le cygne from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.

In the first years of the Ballets Russes Pavlova worked briefly for Sergei Diaghilev. Originally she was to dance the lead in Mikhail Fokine's The Firebird, but refused the part, as she could not come to terms with Igor Stravinsky's avant-garde score, and the role was given to Tamara Karsavina. All her life Pavlova preferred the melodious "musique dansante" of the old maestros such as Cesare Pugni and Ludwig Minkus, and cared little for anything else which strayed from the salon-style ballet music of the 19th century.

By the mid-20th century she founded her own company and performed throughout the world, with a repertory consisting primarily of abridgements of Petipa's works, and specially choreographed pieces for herself. Members of her company included Kathleen Crofton. The ballet writer Cyril Johnson described that "her bourrées were like a string of pearls".

England[link]

After leaving Russia, Pavlova moved to London, England, settling, in 1912, at the Ivy House on North End Road, Golders Green, north of Hampstead Heath, where she lived for the rest of her life. The house had an ornamental lake where she fed her pet swans, and where now stands a statue of her by the Scots sculptor George Henry Paulin. The house was featured in the film "Anna Pavlova". It is now the London Jewish Cultural Centre but a blue plaque marks it as a site of significant historical interest being Pavlova's home.^[3][4] While in London Pavlova was influential in the development of British ballet, most notably inspiring the career of Alicia Markova. The Gate pub, located on the border of Arkley and Totteridge (London Borough of Barnet), has a story, framed on its walls, describing a visit by Pavlova and her dance company.

Pavlova was introduced to audiences in the United States by Max Rabinoff during his time as managing director of the Boston Grand Opera Company from 1914 to 1917 and was featured there with her Russian Ballet Company during that period.^[5]

Personal life[link]

Victor Dandré, her manager and companion, may have been her husband (she deliberately clouded this issue).

Death[link]

Anna Pavlova arriving in The Hague in 1927

While touring in The Hague, Netherlands, Pavlova was told that she had pneumonia and required an operation. She was also told that she would never be able to dance again if she went ahead with it. She refused to have the surgery, saying "If I can't dance then I'd rather be dead." She died of pleurisy, three weeks short of her 50th birthday. She was holding her costume from The Dying Swan when she spoke her last words, "Play the last measure very softly." Her death came in the Hotel Des Indes in The Hague, which displays a wall plaque and has a cigar lounge named the Anna Pavlova Library in her memory.

In accordance with old ballet tradition, on the day she was to have next performed, the show went on as scheduled, with a single spotlight circling an empty stage where she would have been. Memorial services were held in the Russian Orthodox Church in London. Anna Pavlova was cremated, and her ashes placed in a columbarium at Golders Green Crematorium, where her urn was subsequently adorned with her ballet shoes (which since then have been stolen).

Pavlova's ashes have been a source of much controversy, following attempts by Valentina Zhilenkova and Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, to have them flown to Moscow for interment in the Novodevichy Cemetery. These attempts were based on claims that it was Pavlova's dying wish that her ashes be returned to Russia following the fall of Communism. These claims were later found to be false, as there is no evidence to suggest that this was her wish at all. The only documentary evidence that suggests that such a move would be possible is in the will of Pavlova's husband, who stipulated that if Russian authorities agreed to such a move and treated her remains with proper reverence, then the crematorium caretakers should agree to it. Despite this clause, the will does not contain a formal request or plans for a posthumous journey to Russia.

The most recent attempt to move Pavlova's remains to Russia came in 2001. Golders Green Crematorium had made arrangements for them to be flown to Russia for interment on 14 March 2001, in a ceremony to be attended by various Russian dignitaries. This plan was later abandoned after Russian authorities withdrew permission for the move. It was later revealed that neither Pavlova's family nor the Russian Government had sanctioned the move and that they had agreed the remains should stay in London.^[6][7]

Legacy[link]

Commemorative coin, Central Bank of Russia

Pavlova inspired the choreographer Frederick Ashton when as a boy of 13 he saw her dance in in the Municipal Theater in Lima, Peru.

The Pavlova dessert is believed to have been created in honour of the dancer either during or after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. The nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between the two nations for many years.

The Jarabe Tapatío, known in English as the 'Mexican Hat Dance', gained popularity outside of Mexico when Pavlova created a staged version in pointe shoes, for which she was showered with hats by her adoring Mexican audiences. Afterward, in 1924, the Jarabe Tapatío was proclaimed Mexico’s national dance.

She once said that the country that would produce the best ballerina in history would be the United States because of all the different cultures that came together there.^{[citation needed]}

Anna Pavlova was able to complete 37 turns while on top of a moving elephant while on a tour in China.

In 1980, Igor Carl Faberge licensed a collection of 8 inch Full Lead Crystal Wine Glasses to commemorate the centenary of Anna's birth. The glasses were crafted in Japan under the supervision of The Franklin Mint. A frosted image of Anna Pavlova appears in the stem of each glass. Originally each set contained 12 glasses.

Pavlova's life was depicted in the 1983 film Anna Pavlova.

When the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, England, opened in 1911, a gilded statue of Pavlova had been installed above the cupola of the theatre. This was taken down for its safety during World War II and was lost. In 2006, a replica of the original statue was restored in its place.^[8]

A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 of the Dutch airlines "KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines", built at 1995-8-31, with the registration "PH-KCH" carries her name.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Christmas pavlova

• 

  Stained glass window entitled "El Jarabe Tapatio"

• 

  The Butterfly (Costume Design by Leon Bakst for Anna Pavlova), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• 

  London, Victoria Palace Theatre, rooftop statue of Anna Pavlova

See also[link]

Biography portal

• List of Russian ballet dancers

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Anna Pavlova in Australia – 1926, 1929 Tours - programs and ephemera held by the National Library of Australia
• Pictures of Anna Pavlova - digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
• Creative Quotations from Anna Pavlova
• Andros on Ballet
• Heroine Worship: Anna Pavlova, The Swan
• Anna Pavlova on Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Anna Pavlova at the Internet Movie Database
• Anna Pavlova at Find a Grave

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anna Pavlova

Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 1929 – 29 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

MacMillan was born at Dunfermline, Scotland. He grew up in Great Yarmouth, where he studied with Phyllis Adams. Later he won a scholarship to the Sadler's Wells Ballet School, where he studied for a year before, in 1946, joining Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, now known as Birmingham Royal Ballet. Whilst studying, he met and gained the support of Ninette de Valois, something he was to enjoy wholeheartedly for the rest of his life. In 1948 he moved to the Sadler's Wells Ballet, but returned to the Theatre Ballet four years later.

Career[link]

MacMillan began choreographing for the company's choreographic group and two promising early works, Somnambulism (1953) and Laiderette (1954) led de Valois to commission a work from the 25-year-old MacMillan. Danses concertantes was first produced in January 1955. He continued to dance, but gradually gave it up in favour of his true vocation. A string of successful works followed including Solitaire (1956), The Burrow (1958), Le baiser de la fée and The Invitation (1960), The Rite of Spring (1962), La Création du monde (1964) The Song of the Earth and his first full-length work, Romeo and Juliet (1965). The year he choreographed Romeo and Juliet, which has become one of his best-loved pieces, he was appointed resident choreographer at The Royal Ballet.

MacMillan was the director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ballet from 1966 to 1969, and was made director of The Royal Ballet in 1970. He continued to choreograph and produced a string of masterpieces: Valses nobles et sentimentales (1966), Anastasia (one-act version 1967, three-act version 1971), The Seven Deadly Sins (1973), Manon and Elite Syncopations (1974), Requiem (1976), Mayerling (1978), Isadora (1981), The Prince of the Pagodas (1989) and The Judas Tree (1992). In 1977, aged only 48, he retired as director and took up the position of principal choreographer for The Royal Ballet. He was knighted in 1983.

Personal life[link]

MacMillan died of a heart attack on 29 October 1992 while backstage at Covent Garden during a revival of his Mayerling. Jeremy Isaacs, the general director of the Royal Opera House, announced the death from the stage after the performance and asked the audience to "please rise and bow your heads and leave the theatre in silence".^[1] That same evening, Birmingham Royal Ballet was dancing his Romeo and Juliet in Birmingham. He is remembered as one of the great choreographers of the twentieth century who was unafraid of confronting controversial issues in his ballets (for example The Invitation and The Judas Tree). He often dwelled on the darker side of human nature and sexuality and some of his works centred on characters who would be considered outsiders in modern society. At the same time, ballets such as Elite Syncopations showed that he was capable of creating works of great wit and charm.

He was married to the painter and sculptor Deborah Williams, with whom he had a daughter Charlotte, a photographer, and both continue to oversee continuing productions of his work.

Choreography[link]

Although a talented dancer, MacMillan is best known on his choreography, and particularly on his work with the Royal Ballet. He also worked with the American Ballet Theatre (1956-7) and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin (1966–69). He succeeded Frederick Ashton as Director of the Royal Ballet in 1970 and resigned after seven years, frustrated at balancing the conflicting demands of creating ballets with administration. He continued as Principal Choreographer to the Royal Ballet until his death in 1992.

full-length[link]

• Romeo and Juliet — made on Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, but the premiere was danced by Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev (1965)
• Anastasia — made on Lynn Seymour
• Manon — made on Antoinette Sibley and Jennifer Penney (1974)
• Mayerling (1978)
• Isadora
• The Prince of the Pagodas — made on Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope (1989)

one-act[link]

• Danses Concertantes — commissioned by Dame Ninette de Valois (1955)
• Different Drummer
• The Invitation — made on Lynn Seymour and Christoper Gable (1960)
• The Rite of Spring — made on Monica Mason (1962)
• Elite Syncopations (1974)
• My Brother, My Sisters
• La Fin du Jour
• Valley of Shadows — made on Alessandra Ferri
• Gloria
• Noctambules (1956)
• Song of the Earth
• Solitaire
• Requiem
• Winter Dreams — based on Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters"
• The Judas Tree — his last ballet, made on Viviana Durante and Irek Mukhamedov (1992)
• Concerto (1966)

References[link]

• "Official Kenneth MacMillan website". The MacMillan Estate. 2009. http://kennethmacmillan.com/. Retrieved 18 December 2009. 
• "History of The Royal Ballet: Kenneth MacMillan". Royal Opera House. 2008. http://info.royaloperahouse.org/ballet/index.cfm?ccs=473&cs=1004. Retrieved 13 August 2008. 
• Bruce Marriott (2002). "Kenneth MacMillan International Celebration". Ballet.co. http://www.ballet.co.uk/macmillan/. Retrieved 13 August 2008. 
• Susan Crow (2002). "Family Heirlooms". Ballet.co. http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_02/jul02/sc_family_heirlooms.htm. Retrieved 13 August 2008. 
• Jann Parry (2009). Different Drummer: The Life of Kenneth MacMillan. London, Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24302-0

External links[link]

• Kenneth MacMillan at the Internet Broadway Database
• Kenneth MacMillan at the Internet Movie Database
• Biographer Jann Parry talking about Kenneth MacMillan's legacy in a video interview

v t e Ballet General information ballets companies glossary history music timeline Ballet terminology Ballet d'action Barre Ballet blanc Comic ballet Contemporary ballet Ballets de cour Demi-soloist Divertissement Narrative ballet Neoclassical ballet Opéra-ballet Pas de deux Pas de quatre Pas de trois Pièce d'occasion Pointe shoes Romantic ballet Turnout Tutu Variation Ballet by genre character classical contemporary neoclassical Ballet by region British French Italian Russian Dancers American British French Russian Technique Balanchine Bournonville Cecchetti Royal Academy Vaganova Ballet apparel dance belt leotard pointe shoes slippers tights tutu unitard Schools The National Ballet School of Canada Stuttgart Ballet Cuban National Ballet School Elmhurst School for Dance English National Ballet School Moscow State Academy of Choreography Royal Ballet School School of American Ballet La Scala Theatre Ballet School Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet Royal Winnipeg Ballet Companies American Ballet Theatre Anaheim Ballet Atlanta Ballet Ballet Manila Ballet Philippines Barcelona Ballet Berlin State Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Boston Ballet Cairo Opera Ballet Company Cape Town City Ballet Carolina Ballet Cincinnati Ballet Cuban National Ballet Dayton Ballet Donetsk Ballet Dutch National Ballet English National Ballet Finnish National Ballet Georgian National Ballet Greek National Opera Guangzhou Ballet Hamburg Ballet Hong Kong Ballet Houston Ballet Iaşi Romanian National Opera Iranian National Ballet Company Joffrey Ballet K-ballet Kiev Ballet Korea National Ballet Company La Scala Theatre Ballet Les Ballets de Monte Carlo Les Grands Ballets Canadiens Los Angeles Ballet Mariinsky Ballet Moldova National Opera Ballet National Ballet of Canada National Ballet of China National Ballet Theater of Puerto Rico National Opera and Ballet National Theatre Munich New Jersey Ballet New York City Ballet Norwegian National Opera and Ballet Oklahoma City Ballet Oregon Ballet Theatre Pacific Northwest Ballet Paris Opera Ballet Philippine Ballet Theatre Polish National Ballet Queensland Ballet Royal Danish Ballet Royal New Zealand Ballet Royal Swedish Ballet Royal Winnipeg Ballet San Francisco Ballet Scottish Ballet Shanghai Ballet Company Spanish National Dance Company Stuttgart Ballet The Australian Ballet The Royal Ballet Tokyo Ballet Tulsa Ballet Universal Ballet West Australian Ballet Ballet portal Did you know? today's news today's article today's biography today's picture recent news 2009 2008

Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE (18 May 1919 – 21 February 1991), was an English ballerina of the 20th century.^[1] She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the company by HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Early life[link]

Fonteyn was born Margaret Hookham on 18 May 1919 in Reigate, Surrey, to an English father and a half-Irish half-Brazilian mother; her mother's father was the industrialist Antonio Fontes of Brazil. Very early in her career, Margaret transformed the Fontes into Fonteyn (a surname her brother adopted as well) and Margaret into Margot: thus her stage name. Among her father's family were people in literature and music, but he was an engineer.^[2]

When she was four her mother signed her up for ballet classes with her older brother. At age eight, Margot made the long journey to China with her mother and father, who had taken employment with a tobacco company there; her brother Felix remained at his school. For six years Margot lived in Tientsin then in Shanghai, where she studied ballet with the Russian émigré teacher George Goncharov. Her mother brought her back to London when she was 14 in order to pursue a ballet career. Continuing to work in Shanghai, her father was interned during World War II by the invading Japanese.^[3]

In 1933, she joined the Vic-Wells Ballet School, the predecessor of today's Royal Ballet School. She trained under the direction of Ninette de Valois and teachers including Olga Preobrajenska and Mathilde Kschessinska. After starting with the Vic-Wells Ballet, she rose quickly through the ranks of the company. By 1939, Fonteyn had performed principal roles in Giselle, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty and was appointed Prima Ballerina.

Fonteyn was most noted in the ballets of Sir Frederick Ashton, including Ondine, Daphnis and Chloe, and Sylvia. She was especially renowned for her portrayal of Aurora in Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty. (Televised versions of Sleeping Beauty and Ashton's version of Cinderella are now available on DVD.) Fonteyn also worked with the choreographer Roland Petit and later in life, Martha Graham. In 1949 when the Royal Ballet toured the United States, Fonteyn instantly became a celebrity for her performances.

Dancing with Rudolf Nureyev and others[link]

In the 1940s, she and Robert Helpmann formed a very successful dance partnership, and they toured together for several years. In the 1950s, she danced regularly with Michael Somes (they had first danced together in 1938, when they created Constant Lambert's Horoscope). In 1955, they danced together in the first ever color telecast of a ballet, NBC's production of The Sleeping Beauty. In 1958 they appeared together in the first British televised version of The Nutcracker.

Fonteyn began her greatest artistic partnership at a time when many (including the head of the Royal Ballet, Ninette de Valois) thought she was about to retire. In 1961 Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West, and on 21 February 1962, he and Fonteyn first performed together in Giselle. She was 42 and he was 24. Their performance was a great success; during the curtain calls Nureyev dropped to his knees and kissed Fonteyn's hand. They created an on-and-offstage partnership that lasted until her 1979 retirement, and were lifelong friends. Fonteyn and Nureyev became known for inspiring repeated frenzied curtain calls and bouquet tosses.

Ashton choreographed Marguerite and Armand for them, which no other couple danced until the 21st century. They debuted Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, although MacMillan had conceived the ballet for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable. Fonteyn and Nureyev appeared together in the filmed versions of MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, and the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux.

Despite differences in background and temperament, and a 19-year gap in ages, Nureyev and Fonteyn became close lifelong friends and were famously loyal to each other. Fonteyn would not approve an unflattering photograph of Nureyev. He said about her:

"At the end of 'Lac des Cygnes' when she left the stage in her great white tutu I would have followed her to the end of the world."

The well-known photojournalist Michael Peto took many images of Fonteyn and Nureyev, helping their artistry to become widely known and part of the national culture.

The extent of their physical relationship remains unclear; Nureyev said that they had one while Fonteyn denied it. Her biographer Meredith Daneman agreed with Nureyev.^[4] They remained close even after she retired to a Panama cattle farm with her husband. Fonteyn would talk with Nureyev by phone several times a week, although her farmhouse did not have a telephone. When she had to be treated for cancer, Nureyev paid many of her medical bills and visited her often, despite his busy schedule as a performer and choreographer. In a documentary about Fonteyn, Nureyev said that they danced with "one body, one soul" and that Margot was "all he had, only her." An observer said that "If most people are at level A, they were at level Z." (Nureyev had his own health problems as he was HIV positive. He died of AIDS in 1993).

In the extremely competitive world of ballet, Fonteyn was renowned for her consummate professionalism and loyalty to her friends. Her dancing stood out for its lyricism, grace, and passion. Although Fonteyn was the Royal Ballet's biggest star, its director, Dame Ninette de Valois, cultivated other talents, so that the Royal Ballet of Fonteyn's day also featured Nadia Nerina, Svetlana Beriosova, Lynn Seymour, and Antoinette Sibley.

Relationships[link]

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Fonteyn had a long relationship with composer Constant Lambert. Lambert expressed some aspects of this in his ballet Horoscope (1938).

In 1955, Fonteyn married Dr. Roberto Arias, a Panamanian diplomat to London. Their marriage was initially rocky due to his infidelities. She was arrested when he attempted a coup against the Panamanian government. In 1964, a rival Panamanian politician shot Arias, leaving him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. Information released on 28 May 2010 indicated Dame Margot knew of, and at one point was involved in, the coup attempt.^[5]

After her retirement, she spent all her time in Panama, and was close to her husband and his children from an earlier marriage. Shortly before her husband's death, in 1989, Fonteyn was diagnosed with a cancer that proved fatal. She died on 21 February 1991 in a hospital in Panama City, Panama.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy and honours[link]

• Fonteyn was awarded a DBE (made a dame) in 1956 at the age of 37.
• She was chancellor of the University of Durham from 1981 to 1990. The main hall in Dunelm House, the Student Union building, is named the Fonteyn Ballroom in her honour. Also, the foyer to the Great Hall of University College, Durham in Durham Castle is named after Dame Margot Fonteyn. Fonteyn Court, one of the accommodation buildings at the Parsons Field site of St. Cuthbert's Society, is also named in her honour.
• Margot Fonteyn was one of five "Women of Achievement" selected for a set of British stamps issued in August 1996.
• In her hometown of Reigate, a statue stands in tribute [1].

Miscellany[link]

Fonteyn wrote the Introduction for Wushu! The Chinese Way To Family Health and Fitness.^[6] The book was translated for the Western market by Timothy Tung from a series of official handbooks published in China by The People's Sports Publishing House, Beijing.

Fonteyn has a school named in her honour, the only school her estate has allowed to do so in Peekskill, New York, http://fonteynacademy.org/sections/

Film and television[link]

Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev starred together in a colour film of Swan Lake in 1967. Under the guidance of the noted director Paul Czinner, they also filmed their famous version of Romeo and Juliet in 1966.

Fonteyn had appeared with Michael Somes in a live U.S. television colour production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty (1955), for the anthology series Producers' Showcase, on NBC. This production has been preserved on black-and-white kinescope, and released on DVD. Fonteyn starred with Somes in a 1958 British TV production of The Nutcracker. (This is not to be confused with the live U.S. television production telecast by CBS on Playhouse 90.)

The BBC made a film about Fonteyn in 2009, based on Daneman's biography and starring Anne-Marie Duff as the ballerina. It aired on 30 November 2009.^[7]

Tony Palmer made a documentary about Fonteyn, entitled simply "Margot" (2005). It includes interviews with Nureyev, Frekerick Ashton, Roland Petit, Ninette de Valois, Robert Helpman, Lynn Seymour, Fonteyn's mother and other relatives, and various members of the Arias family.

Main roles[link]

Quotations[link]

• "The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous."
• "Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike."
• "Life offstage has sometimes been a wilderness of unpredictables in an unchoreographed world."
• "Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable."

References[link]