Dame Margot Fonteyn, DBE (18 May 1919 - 21 February 1991), stage name of Margaret Evelyn de Arias was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II.
Video Margot Fonteyn
Early life
Margaret Evelyn Hookham was born on 18 May 1919 in Reigate, Surrey to Hilda (née Acheson Fontes) and Felix John Hookham. Her father was a British mechanical engineer, who worked for the British-American Tobacco Company. Her mother was the illegitimate daughter of an Irish woman, Evelyn Acheson, and the Brazilian industrialist Antonio Fontes. The family moved to Ealing, where at four years of age her mother signed her and her elder brother up for ballet classes with Grace Bosustow. Her father was transferred to Kentucky and then when Peggy, as she was called in her childhood, was nine the family moved to China.
For six years the family lived in TianJin, and then moved to Shanghai, where Hookham studied ballet with Russian émigré teacher George Goncharov. Goncharov's partner Vera Volkova would later become influential in Hookham's career and training. She had no dreams of becoming a dancer and was a reluctant student, but she was competitive. Having June Brae in her classes pushed her to work harder. She did not like the Cecchetti drills, much preferring the fluid expression of the Russian style. Her mother brought her back to London when she was 14, to pursue a ballet career. Continuing to work in Shanghai, her father was interned during World War II from 1943 to 1945 by the invading Japanese. He returned to England with his second wife, Beatrice, after the war.
Hookham began her studies with Serafina Astafieva, but was spotted by Dame Ninette de Valois and invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School, which would later become the Royal Ballet. She trained under Olga Preobrajenska and Volkova. Her first solo performance occurred in 1933, as an actor rather than a dancer, using the interim name Margot Fontes, as a child in the production of The Haunted Ballroom by de Valois. In 1934, she danced as a snowflake in The Nutcracker still using the name Fontes. The following year, she took the name by which she was known for the remainder of her professional life, "Margot Fonteyn", modifying her maternal grandfather's surname, "Fontes" -- in Portuguese, "fonte" means "fountain". In Middle and modern English until the 16th century, it was translated as "fonteyn". Her brother, Felix, who became a specialist of dance photography, adopted the surname as well.
Maps Margot Fonteyn
Vic-Wells years
In 1935, Fonteyn had her solo debut, playing Young Tregennis in The Haunted Ballroom and that same year, Sir Frederick Ashton created the role of the bride in his choreography of Stravinsky's Le baiser de la fée specifically for her. He also cast her as the lead, playing the Creole girl in his production, Rio Grande. When Alicia Markova, the first Prima Ballerina of the company, left the Vic-Wells later in 1935, Fonteyn shared the lead with other members of the company, but quickly rose to the top of the field of dancers. Using her delicate and somewhat feline grace to advantage, "Sir Frederick often cast her as a frail or otherworldly being". In 1936, she was cast as the unattainable muse in his Apparitions and the same year played a wistful, poverty-stricken flower seller in Nocturne. The following year, she was given a comic role of Julia in A Wedding Bouquet and was cast with Robert Helpmann performing the pas de deux, imitating Victorian ice skaters, in Ashton's Les Patineurs. Helpmann was her most constant partner in the 1930s and 1940s, helping her develop her theatricality, whereas Constant Lambert, as the company music director, assisted with her musicality. Beginning in 1935, Fonteyn and Lambert developed a romantic relationship, which would continue on and off for the duration of his life. She had previously been involved with Donald Hodson, the Controller of Overseas Service for the BBC. Lambert dedicated his score for the ballet Horoscope (1938) to Fonteyn.
By 1939 Fonteyn had performed the principal roles in Giselle, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty and was appointed as the Prima Ballerina of the Vic-Wells, soon to be renamed the Sadler's Wells Ballet. During the war, the company danced nightly, performing matinées as well, to entertain troops. With short London seasons, they also travelled abroad and were in the Netherlands when it was invaded in 1940, escaping with nothing more than the costumes they were wearing. During the war, Ashton created roles such as his bleak wartime piece Dante Sonata (1940) and the glittery The Wanderer (1941) for Fonteyn. She also performed notably in Coppélia, imbuing the role with humour. The war years helped Fonteyn develop stamina and improve her natural talent.
Covent Garden years
In 1946, the company moved to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and one of her first roles was in a command performance of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty as Aurora with King George, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, both princesses--Elizabeth and Margaret--and Prime Minister Clement Attlee in attendance. The ballet became a signature production for the company and a distinguishing role for Fonteyn, marking her "arrival" as the "brightest crown" of the Sadler's Wells Company. Ashton immediately created Symphonic Variations to capitalize on the success of the opening. Of the six dancers in the production, Fonteyn's performance was dubbed "brilliant" and Moira Shearer was singled out for her elegance. Fonteyn first appeared on television in 1946, to mark the reopening after the war of the Alexandra Palace. These were followed with a performance with choreographer Léonide Massine as the miller's wife in his work The Three-Cornered Hat and as the lead in the abstract debut of Scènes de ballet written for her by Ashton.
In 1948, Fonteyn went to Paris to perform as Agathe, a role created for her, in Les demoiselles de la nuit by choreographer Roland Petit. The admiration of Petit gave her new confidence and assurance, which showed in her performance in Ashton's Don Juan, though she was injured on the first night of the performance and unable to dance for several months thereafter, missing the premiere of Ashton's Cinderella. She recovered sufficiently to dance with Michael Somes in the Christmas presentation of the ballet. Reprieving the role of Aurora in 1949 when the Royal Ballet toured the United States, Fonteyn instantly became a celebrity for her performances, gaining international recognition. In 1949, she profiled choreographies of Sir Frederick Ashton, which were no longer in the repertoire of the Salder's Wells Company, dancing on television with Michael Somes and Harold Turner. Fonteyn appeared on American TV on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time in 1951, and would repeat performances on the show several times. Her performances on the show were credited with improving the popularity of dance with American audiences. These were followed by two of her most noted roles, as the lead in Ashton's Daphnis and Chloe (1951) and Sylvia (1952).
Fonteyn was honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1951 for her contributions to British ballet. Plagued by injury, Fonteyn considered retiring, especially after her most frequent partner of the 1950s, Somes began to take less challenging roles. In Paris on 6 February 1955 married Roberto Arias, a Panamanian politician known as "Tito" adopting the formal married name of "Margot Fonteyn de Arias", in the Spanish-language tradition. In 1955, she returned to the stage and found success in St. Petersburg, dancing the role of Medora in Le Corsaire, opposite Rudolf Nureyev. On 12 December 1955, Fonteyn appeared with Michael Somes in a live US television colour production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, for the anthology series Producers' Showcase, on NBC. The production was underwritten by the Ford Company and ran for an hour and a half, garnering around 30,000,000 viewers. This production has been preserved on black-and-white kinescope, and released on DVD. Two years later, the duo appeared in another Producers' Showcase production of Cinderella. Fonteyn starred with Somes in a 1958 British TV production of The Nutcracker. (This is not to be confused with the live US television production telecast by CBS on Playhouse 90.) She was successful in two other Ashton ballets, La Péri (1956) and Ondine (1958), before becoming a freelance dancer in 1959 to allow her to accept the many international engagements that were being offered to her.
Political intrigue
Shortly before her marriage Fonteyn had been selected to succeed Adeline Genée, as president of the Royal Academy of Dance and though she protested the appointment, the Academy overruled her decision. Adding planning meetings for a new dance syllabus and attending meetings of the Academy, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956. As her husband had been made an ambassador to the court of St James upon her marriage, Fonteyn also attended to the duties required of a diplomat's wife. As an ambassador's wife, Fonteyn had little concern for politics and drew criticism for her lack of awareness. In 1956, she gave four performance in Johannesburg, South Africa at His Majesty's Theatre and another at Zoo Lake with Michael Somes. Though they received top reviews, she was criticized for performing and ignoring the dancers' union ban because of Apartheid. She also garnered criticism for performing for Imelda Marcos and was once detained for attending a party at which drugs were used.
In April 1959, Fonteyn was arrested, detained for 24 hours in a Panamanian jail, and then deported to New York City. Her husband had staged a coup d'état against President Ernesto de la Guardia, possibly with the support of Fidel Castro. According to Fonteyn, the plot was hatched when she and her husband were visiting Cuba in January 1959, with Castro promising to assist Arias with arm or men. The couple went fishing on their boat The Nola and during the voyage ordered fishermen to raise a buoy loaded with arms. The fishermen reported the couple who hurriedly decided that Arias should try to escape detection. In the night Arias jumped ship, boarding the shrimp boat Elaine, while Fonteyn used her own yacht as a decoy to send the government forces away from her husband. She returned to Panama City to turn herself in, hoping her surrender would help her husband.
Meeting at the prison with the British ambassador to Panama Sir Ian Henderson, Fonteyn confessed her involvement and the British Foreign Office granted that her statement was confidential. The British embassy arranged for Fonteyn's release, and flew her to New York City on 22 April, without disclosing to the United States government that Cuba had been involved in the plot. Arias took refuge in the Brazilian embassy of Panama and safely arrived in Lima, Peru the same day Fonteyn arrived in New York. The couple were reunited in June, in Rio de Janeiro and by November, she had returned to the stage, dancing with Michael Somes in an Ashton pas de deux for a London benefit performance. Fonteyn danced in the BBC Eurovision production of Sleeping Beauty in the title role with Jelko Yuresha on 20 December 1959.
Nureyev years
Fonteyn began her greatest artistic partnership at a time when many people, including the head of the Royal Ballet, Ninette de Valois, thought she was about to retire. In 1961 Rudolf Nureyev, star of the Kirov Ballet defected in Paris, and was invited by de Valois to join the Royal Ballet. She offered Fonteyn the opportunity to dance with him in his debut, and though reluctant because of their 19-year age difference, Fonteyn agreed. On 21 February 1962 he and Fonteyn performed together in Giselle to an enthusiastic capacity crowd, for which they received 15 minutes of applause and 20 curtain calls. The performance was followed by a show-stopping performance of Le Corsaire Pas de Deux on 3 November. The press described their performance as otherworldly and The Observer called the performance a "knockout" and the pairing history-making. A few days later, they performed Les Sylphides to rave reviews which were carried in United States newspapers.
Sir Frederick Ashton choreographed Marguerite and Armand for them, which no other couple danced until the 21st century. The 1963 premier was well-publicized before its 1963 opening and teamed them with Michael Somes, who played the disapproving father. Composed as a series of pas de deux, interrupted by only one solo, the ballet built intensity from the initial coup de foudre to the death scene. According to Somes, the pairing of Nureyev and Fonteyn was brilliant, as they were not partners but two stars of equal talent who pushed each other to their best performances. Attended by the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Princess Marina, the production was an immediate success and became a signature work for the duo, sealing their partnership.
In 1964, Fonteyn and Nureyev toured from Sydney to Melbourne, performing in Giselle and Swan Lake with the The Australian Ballet. After a brief break, they resumed their performances in Stuttgart. On 8 June that same year, while the duo was performing in Bath, they were advised that a rival Panamanian politician shot Fonteyn's husband Arias, but it was unclear if he was in imminent danger. Fonteyn, though shaken, danced in MacMillan's new pax de deux, Divertimento on 9 June, before flying home to Panama. She found that Arias had been shot four times by Alfredo Jimenez, leaving Arias a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. Thoughts of retirement receded, as she needed to continue working to pay Arias' medical bills. Though he was wheelchair-bound, Fonteyn, who was devoted to his well-being, brought him with her on most of her travels. Within two weeks, she had returned to London, having arranged for Arias to be treated at the National Spinal Injuries Centre of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital and resumed dancing. Over the next ten days, Fonteyn danced six performances of La Bayadère, Gisselle, and Marguerite and Armand, while rehearsing Nureyev's production of Raymonda, A coma and relapse in Arias' condition would force her to miss all but the final performance of Raymonda in Spoleto.
Fonteyn and Nureyev were especially noted for their performance of classics, such as The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, which Fonteyn stripped to the essence of the roles and constantly improved her performance. Nureyev insisted that Fonteyn partner with him in La bayadère and Raymonda, and wrote his own version of Swan Lake for them to perform with the Vienna State Opera Ballet in 1964. The performance was filmed and Lord Snowdon took pictures for the 27 November 1964 issue of Life. In 1965, the couple debuted the title roles in Romeo and Juliet choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan. MacMillan had intended the roles for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, but the David Webster manager of the Royal Opera House insisted on Fonteyn and Nureyev. A year after the debut, the production was still drawing queues for its nightly performances and the duo were littered with flowers, from the audience, which demanded repeated curtain-calls. Fonteyn's depth as an actor made the performance unique and Juliet became one of her most acclaimed roles.
Despite differences in background and temperament--she was methodical and he was wildly exuberant--and a 19-year gap in ages, Fonteyn and Nureyev became close lifelong friends and were famously loyal to each other. Fonteyn would not approve an unflattering photograph of Nureyev, nor would she dance with other partners in ballets within his repertoire. The extent of their physical relationship remains unclear; Nureyev said that they had one, while Fonteyn denied it. Her biographer, Meredith Daneman, said that in spite of no real evidence, her opinion was that they did, yet Nureyev's biographer, Diane Solway concluded that they did not. Nureyev 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."
In 1965, Fonteyn and Nureyev appeared together in the recorded versions Les Sylphides, and the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, as part of the documentary An Evening with the Royal Ballet. The film grossed over $1 million US, creating a record for a dance film at the time, and was shown in over 50 theaters in New York and New Jersey alone over the week of 6 December 1965. Under the guidance of director Paul Czinner, who used a multi-camera technique to give the feel of a stage performance, they also filmed their famous version of Romeo and Juliet in 1966. In 1967 Roland Petit wrote a new ballet for the duo, Paradise Lost. It was an abstract, modern production designed to emphasize Rudolf as a virile Adam and Fonteyn as a chic Eve. With pop art décor and flashing neon, the ballet titillated the fans, which included Mick Jagger and his girlfriend, singer Marianne Faithfull.
Fonteyn went into semi-retirement in 1972, relinquishing parts in full ballets and performing only a variety of one-act ballets. She even ventured into modern dance, performing as "Desdemona" in José Limón' The Moor's Pavane June 1975 with the Chicago Ballet followed by a performance of the same dance with Nureyev at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. in July. Between the two performances, Fonteyn was performing with the Martha Graham Dance Company in Saratoga, New York City, Athens and London and after the performance at The Kennedy Center, her tour went to Brazil. In November 1975, she and Nureyev appeared in Fonteyn & Nureyev on Broadway at the Uris Theatre. The appearance, though memorable confirmed that Fonteyn was no longer able to execute more demanding roles. In 1976, she published her autobiography, though it was not a tell-all. First, her husband was still living and Fonteyn was a very private person, as well as proper and fastidious.
Cattle rancher
Fonteyn and Nureyev created an on-and-offstage partnership that lasted until her retirement in 1979 at age 61, and they remaied lifelong friends. For her 60th birthday, Fonteyn was feted by the Royal Ballet, dancing a duet with Ashton in his Salut d'amour and a tango from Ashton's Façade with her former partner Helpmann. At the end of the evening, she was officially pronounced prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet. She performed with Nureyev in his summer season, taking the part of lead nymph in L'après-midi d'un faune by Vaslav Nijinsky and as the girl in Le Spectre de la rose. Fonteyn and Nureyev remained close even after she retired to a Panama cattle farm with her husband. The small farmhouse near El Higo, which did not have a telephone, was in a remote village, but she stayed in touch and the two occasionally performed together. Making telephone calls from a neighbor's hotel, Fonteyn spoke with Nureyev several times each week. She discovered that she had a real interest in raising cattle and developed a herd of four-hundred head.
In 1979, Foteyn wrote The Magic of Dance which was aired on the BBC as a television series in which she starred and published in book form. The six-part BBC2 series, exploring the history of dance through five centuries. The series caused a stir because up to that time she had not been known for speaking on camera. Terry Wogan commented that if that was an amateur speaking then the professionals should take note. That same year, she also published A Dancer's World: An Introduction for Parents and Students. Fonteyn danced the role of "Lady Capulet" in Nureyev's Romeo and Juliet with Rudolf and Carla Fracci performing the leading roles in 1981 at the Met in New York City. In 1982, she was made a chancellor of Durham University, which she accepted as a great honour, considering her limited and oft-interrupted education. She travelled to Durham annually to attend the degree ceremony of the graduates and wholeheartedly participated in the duties required. Fonteyn also published Pavlova: Portrait of a Dancer, in 1984, as a homage to Anna Pavlova, whom Fonteyn admired. In February 1986 (aged 66) she appeared on stage in Miami, in a two-night engagement, as the Queen in The Sleeping Beauty. Fonteyn's last performance with Nureyev occurred at the Maratona-Festa a Corte, in Mantua, Italy, on 16 September 1988 in Baroque Pas de Trois, along with ballerina Carla Fracci.
Shortly before her husband's death, in 1989, Fonteyn was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Having used up all of her savings to care for Arias in his long infirmity, and having retired with no pension, she dreaded the ordeal. Her step-daughter, Querube Arias, cared for her and accompanied her to Houston, Texas on her regular trips to M.D. Anderson Hospital. Nureyev was one of the few people she told of her problems and he arranged to visit her regularly in Houston, despite his busy schedule as a performer and choreographer. By 1990, she had undergone three surgeries and was bedridden. Out of money, Fonteyn began to sell her jewelry to pay for her care and Nureyev anonymously helped pay the bills. In February 1990 the Public Broadcasting Service aired The Margot Fonteyn Story as part of its series Great Performances. In the documentary, 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". In May, a gala was held at Covent Gardens to raise money for her care. Placido Domingo volunteered to sing and both Somes and Nureyev danced. The event was attended by more than 2,000 guests, including Princess Margaret, Princess Diana and Dame Ninette de Valois, raising £250,000 for a trust fund to provide for Fonteyn's support.
Death and legacy
Fonteyn died on 21 February 1991 in a hospital in Panama City, Panama, aged 71, on the 29th anniversary of her premier with Nureyev in Giselle. She was buried with Arias near there home in Panama and a memorial service was held in London on 2 July 1991 at Westminster Abbey. A grief-stricken Nureyev was unable to attend either service.
- 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.
- 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, made by British sculptor Nathan David, FRBS, stands in tribute.
The "Margot Fonteyn Academy of Ballet" in Peekskill, New York, is named in her honour. The BBC made a film about Fonteyn, broadcast on 30 November 2009, based on Daneman's biography and starring Anne-Marie Duff as the ballerina.
Tony Palmer made a documentary about Fonteyn, titled simply Margot (2005). It includes interviews with Nureyev, Sir Frederick Ashton, Roland Petit, Ninette de Valois, Robert Helpman, Lynn Seymour, Fonteyn's sister-in-law and other relatives, and various members of the Arias family.
In the 1998 film Hilary and Jackie about British cellist Jacqueline du Pre, Fonteyn is portrayed by Nyree Dawn Porter.
Main stage roles
See also
- Women in dance
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links
- Margot Fonteyn on IMDb
- Margot Fonteyn at the Internet Broadway Database
- Margot Fonteyn at PeoplePlay UK
- Brief bio at "My Hero" project
- The Margot Fonteyn Academy of Ballet
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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