Margot Fonteyn


Book Description

The long and remarkable career of the famous ballerina, giving the reader a unique insight into 20th century ballet.




Margot Fonteyn


Book Description

Margot Fonteyn began life on the 18th of May, 1919 in Reigate, Surrey, as plain Peggy Hookham. She ended it on the 21st of February, 1991, as Prima Ballerina Assoluta, Dame of the British Empire and the most legendary dancer since Pavlova. Meredith Daneman, with her own extensive background in ballet, tells Fonteyn’s story in vivid prose with insight and sensitivity. Drawing upon extensive research, countless interviews, and exclusive access to never-before-seen letters and diaries—including those of Fonteyn’s extraordinary and devoted mother—Daneman presents firsthand remembrances of Fonteyn from a vast array of people who knew her and danced with her during the course of her lengthy career. Margot Fonteyn contains revelations not found in any other account of the ballerina, from insights into Fonteyn’s private world (especially regarding her relationship with her mother, the “Black Queen”) to her feelings about her fellow dancers and, of course, the men in her life—including choreographer Frederick Ashton, her husband Roberto Arias, and her long-time dance partner and rumored lover Nureyev.




Swan Lake


Book Description

The age-old legend in which a lovely princess, turned into a swan by an evil enchanter, is rescued by a handsome prince has become one of the world's best-loved ballets. Here it takes on yet another form in this retelling by the ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, aided by an award winning illustrator.




Margot Fonteyn Academy Catalog


Book Description

The detailed outline for the curriculum of The Margot Fonteyn Academy of Ballet. Ken Ludden, artistic director, publishes the entire educational method, with detailed course descriptions, standards and traditions, audition requirements, requirements for matriculation, and the levels of education. In the end, graduates of MFAB will have received a thorough education to prepare them to become the artistic leaders of their generation, and as they take to the stages of the world, eyes will open once again to the tremendous artistic achievements possible when the most inspired artists are given impeccable technical training in classical ballet, but also in dramatic arts, music and visual arts. Students are trained for an entire lifetime in the fine art of performance, beginning as performing artists and then, once retired from stage, as leaders of the art world.




Margot Fonteyn Academy: Basic Handbook


Book Description

This handbook contains your complete information on how The Margot Fonteyn Academy of Ballet operates. It is designed to aid families and students through their association with the Academy, giving clear rules, regulations, standards, practices, and requirements. It also presents an overview of our Educational Program, designed by Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias in conjunction with Artistic Director Ken Ludden.




The Batman and the Ballerina


Book Description

The greatest aerial batman was Clement Sohn. He embodied the daring life, which prevailed in the early aviators in American history. He will always be the greatest Batman of all times. One of the greatest ballerinas the world has ever known was Margot Fonteyn. She embodied the ultimate in ballet excellence. Archival photos.




Ballerina


Book Description

A gorgeously illustrated look at the profound influence that classical ballet and the ballerina have had on high fashion Ballerina: Fashion's Modern Muse is a revelatory, irresistible treat for dance aficionados and fashionistas alike. Couturiers such as Balmain, Balenciaga, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Charles James, Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent designed ballet-inspired dresses and gowns, many featuring the boned bodices and voluminous tulle skirts of classical tutus. And ready-to-wear designers such as Claire McCardell found inspiration in ballet leotards and other practice clothing, creating knitted separates, bathing suits, and wrap dresses. Written by fashion and ballet experts, the book is illustrated with archival photography by such masters as Richard Avedon, Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, Man Ray, and Cecil Beaton, along with newly commissioned photography of contemporary ballerinas wearing ballet-influenced couture.




Balletmaster


Book Description

It was their sole encounter, but the sheer force and élan of Balanchine's personality, technique and genius held the young ballerina in total thrall from that day to this. As Moira Shearer observed his works over the years, she determined to set down Balanchine's extraordinary career and tempestuous life from a dancer's perspective. She researched his Russian youth, and the dazzling Diaghilev and continental years. She talked with key colleagues, ex-wives and impresarios as living background to her account of his hard-won triumphs with the New York City Ballet as the most innovative and important choreographer of this century. The story of Balanchine's life is here is full, the romantic destructiveness and willfulness along with the genius, but it is informal and distillate rather than compendious.




Dancer


Book Description

The National Book Award–winning author’s biographical novel of Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev: “Exuberant and exhilarating . . . a brilliant leap of imagination” (San Francisco Chronicle). In Dancer, Colum McCann tells the ballet icon’s story through the myriad voices of those who knew him. There is Anna Vasileva, Rudi’s first ballet teacher, who rescues her protégé from the stunted life of his provincial town; Yulia, whose sexual and artistic ambitions are thwarted by her Soviet-sanctioned marriage; and Victor, the Venezuelan street hustler, who reveals the lurid underside of the gay celebrity set. Spanning four decades and many worlds, from the horrors of the Second World War to the wild abandon of New York in the ‘80s, Dancer is peopled by a large cast of characters, obscure and famous: doormen and shoemakers, nurses and translators, Margot Fonteyn, Eric Bruhn, and John Lennon. And at the heart of the spectacle stands the artist himself, willful, lustful, and driven by a never-to-be-met need for perfection.




My Margot


Book Description

Margot Fonteyn's closest friends don't appear in Daneman's detailed biography. Lita Legarda (a doctor) gets a one line mention. Angie Novello (Margot's Washington Hostess), Theodora Christon (Margot's personal secretary) and Ken Ludden aren't mentioned at all. These were the people she trusted most, who kept her confidences and never spoke to the press. Everyone knew Margot differently. BQ, her mother, knew one Margot. Tito, her husband, knew another. Ludden, her circle's youngest by a large margin, knew yet another side of Margot: hence the title 'My Margot'. Ken shares that Margot--who taught him so much about ballet and life, and with whom he worked to plan ballet's future. Beyond Margot we learn about Ken's delightful relationship with BQ, a close friendship between a teenager and a woman of eighty. Ken also writes with unflinching honesty of the hostile relationship he had with Rudolf Nureyev, which developed over time into a grudging mutual respect and a shared grief when Margot died.