Margot Fonteyn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tamara Karsavina and Margot Fonteyn rehearsing for Le Specter de la Rose

Dame Margot Fonteyn , from 1955 Fonteyn de Arias , DBE , (born May 18, 1919 in Reigate , Surrey , England ; † February 21, 1991 in Panama City , Panama ; actually Margaret Hookham ) was a British ballet dancer ( Prima Ballerina Assoluta ) .

Life

Margaret Hookham was born on May 18, 1919 to an English father and an Irish-Brazilian mother in Reigate, a town in southern England. As a child she was called "Peggy" and started dancing when she was 4 years old. She received her first dance training at the Royal Academy of Dance at an early age and often passed the exams with distinction. When her family moved to China in 1927, due to her father changing jobs, she already had several dance certificates in her pocket. At the same time, however, a long life of travel began for her. During this time she received her training from George Goncharow in Shanghai. Only in 1933 did her mother bring her back to London to continue her dance training. Here she continued her ballet training at Sadler's Wells School and with Serafina Astafieva (1876–1934) in London.

In 1934 she made her debut at the Vic Wells Ballet as Snowflake in The Nutcracker . Using her stage name Margot Fonteyn, she created her first major role in Frederick Ashton's Le Baiser de la fée in 1935 . During this time she received intensive support from Ninette de Valois (1898-2001), founder of the Royal Ballet, dancer, choreographer and director of Sadler's Wells School. The training was particularly tough for her, but through iron discipline that she had to get used to, Margaret gained her first stage experience here. A few years later, at the age of 17, she succeeded prima ballerina Alicia Markova . In 1937 she met and fell in love with the Panama-born law student Roberto de Arias, who came from an old political family based there. But both lost sight of each other again. In the following years she danced all the ballerinas of the classic standard repertoire. Her collaboration with the choreographer Frederick Ashton (1904–1988) produced famous ballets such as Daphnis et Chloé , Symphonic Variations or Undine (music by Hans Werner Henze ). At first Ashton almost despaired of the "stubborn child", who understood very quickly, but first had to fully internalize each character in order to dance them so expressively on stage. The immersion in the respective role and the authenticity of her feelings then enabled her to embody the characters so believably. With her technical perfection, great musicality and reserved elegance she shaped the English style and helped the Royal Ballet to gain worldwide recognition.

In the 1950s she had an injury and illness-related crisis in which she was already thinking about a possible end to her artistic career. But in 1953 Roberto de Arias and Margaret met again in New York. He was now married and had three children. But when the old love flared up again, he divorced and they married in Paris in 1955. In 1954 she became President of the Royal Academy of Dance . In 1956 she was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II .

On a trip to Cuba in early 1959, shortly after the victory of the Cuban Revolution , Margaret de Arias and her husband met Fidel Castro , who agreed to support the planned overthrow of the Panamanian government. On 19./20. April 1959 Margot Fonteyn and her husband were then involved in an attempted coup by 125 Cuban revolutionaries against the Panamanian government. She was arrested and spent one night in prison before the authorities deported her to the United States.

In the following years she danced as a guest ballerina at the Royal Ballet and gave guest performances all over the world. When the dancer Rudolf Nureyev left the Soviet Union in 1961 and was invited to the Royal Ballet in London, they met and they became a dream couple on stage. From 1962 they performed together in Giselle , Schwanensee , Sleeping Beauty and Marguerite and Armand . Her dance gained aggressiveness and brilliance with Nureyev, he benefited from her experience and the security of the stage. During their appearances, both impressed with an almost sleepwalking consistency in their movements and stage presence. This partnership shaped the ballet of the 20th century until Fonteyn retired from ballet in 1989 and moved to Panama. From then on she looked after her husband, who was paralyzed after an assassination attempt in 1964. In 1979 she was appointed prima ballerina assoluta by the Royal Ballet.

She died of cancer on February 21, 1991 in Panama City.

Works

  • 1976: The Dancing Shoes ( An Autobiography , 1975)
  • 1981: The Magic of Dance (1979)

Movies

Numerous appearances by Fonteyn have been preserved in films, including Truck Branss' 1966 directed the film Swan Lake for the ballet of the same name. She herself produced the television series The Magic of Dance in 1979 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Margot Fonteyn  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adriane von Hoop, biography about Margot Fonteyn, in: http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/margot-fonteyn/
  2. ↑ Dame Margot Fonteyn involved in 'highly reprehensible' plot to overthrow Panama government , Telegraph.co.uk of May 28, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Fonteyn, Margot
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fonteyn de Arias, Margot (name from 1955); Hookham, Margaret (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British dancer
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Reigate , Surrey, England
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 1991
Place of death Panama City , Panama