Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE, (18 May 1919 – 21 February 1991), the British prima ballerina assoluta, was considered by many to be the greatest English ballerina, and one of the greatest dancers of the 20th Century (apparentely there were only 5 prima ballerina abssoluta tin total – ever!).
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in the Grand Adage of The Kingdom of the Shades in 1963
She was born Margaret Hookham 1919 in Surrey , to an English father and an Irish mother of Brazilian ancestry, who was the daughter of Brazilian industrialist Antonio Fontes. Early in her career, Margaret transformed Hookham into Fontes into Fonteyn and Margaret into Margot; for a much better ring to her name. Her mother signed her up for ballet classes with her brother when they were young. She joined the Royal Ballet while sin her teens and had been trained by some of the greatest teachers of the period, Olga Preobrajenskaya and Mathilde Kschessinskaya . Already in 1939, she was the company’s prima ballerina assoluta and the inspiration for many ballets of the day, such as Ondine, Daphnis and Chloe, and Sylvia. Fonteyn was awarded a DBE in 1956 at the young age of 37. In 1949, the Royal Ballet toured the United States and Fonteyn became an instant celebrity. She lived for a number of years in Studio No. 8 and her ballet mirrors are still there (she used the sutdio for training).
I like some of her bonmots, like this one “Life offstage has sometimes been a wilderness of unpredictables in an unchoreographed world.” As to that constantly asked question if she had an affair with Rudolf Nureyev I leave that up to others to decide (the residents of the studios hold together). Here at article in the Sunday Tims on the subject.
[...] The institutions that combined to form LAMDA actually date from 1861 and include the London Academy of Music making the Academy one of the oldest of its kind. It moved here in 2003 (the site was formerly occupied by the Royal Ballet School, see my earlier entry on Margot Fonteyn). [...]