PROFILE

English

Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (18 May 1919 – 21 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells Theatre Company), eventually being appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China. Returning to London at the age of 14, she was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded Alicia Markova as prima ballerina of the company in 1935. 

In 1946, the company, now renamed the Sadler's Wells Ballet, moved into the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden where Fonteyn's most frequent partner throughout the next decade was Michael Somes.  In 1955, she married the Panamanian politician Roberto Arias. Thanks to her international acclaim and many guest artist requests, the Royal Ballet allowed Fonteyn to become a freelance dancer in 1959.

In 1961, when Fonteyn was considering retirement, Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Kirov Ballet while dancing in Paris. Fonteyn, though reluctant to partner with him because of their 19-year age difference, danced with him in his début with the Royal Ballet in Giselle on 21 February 1962. The duo immediately became an international sensation, each dancer pushing the other to their best performances. They were most noted for their classical performances in works such as Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, Les Sylphides, La Bayadère, Swan Lake, and Raymonda, in which Nureyev sometimes adapted choreographies specifically to showcase their talents.

In 1972, Fonteyn went into semi-retirement, ​to take care of her husband, who was shot during an assassination attempt and became a quadriplegic. In 1979, she was fêted by the Royal Ballet and officially pronounced the prima ballerina assoluta of the company. She retired to Panama, where she spent her time writing books, raising cattle, and caring for her husband. She died from ovarian cancer exactly 29 years after her premiere with Nureyev in Giselle.

​For her biography, please read here.

FIGURE

Height/Taille/Altezza/Alto/Größe/高さ/高度:  
170 cm /5 ft 7inch             
​
Weight/Poids/Peso/Gewicht/重量:  
55kg / 121pounds

Chest/Poitrine/Busto/Pechos/Brustumfang /バスト/胸围
78cm / 30 3/4 inch

Waist/Taille/Vita/Talle/Taillenweite/ウエスト周囲/腰围：
61 cm / 24 inch

Hip/Bassin/Fianchi/Caldera/Hüftumfang/股関節周囲/臀围 ：85 cm / 33 1/2 inch

Dress size/Taille/Taglia/Talla/Kleidergröße/服のサイズ/尺碼:
UK  / EU / US 

Shoe size/Chaussure/Calzature/Calzado/Schuhgröße/靴のサイズ/鞋码:  ​EU / US 

The ballerina

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The wife

​In 1955, Margot Fonteyn married the Panamanian politician Roberto Arias.
​In 1972, Fonteyn went into semi-retirement, ​to take care of her husband, who was shot during an assassination attempt and became a quadriplegic.

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Articles

• Margot Fonteyn Biography on elegancepedia

Books

Margot Fonteyn: Autobiography

England's great prima ballerina spotlights the many worlds of her life and career, with special emphases on her work as an internationally acclaimed dancer, her marriage with Panamanian diplomat Roberto Arias, and her relationship with Nureyev and other notables

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Margot Fonteyn: A Life

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 Fonteyncontains 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.

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Fonteyn & Nureyev

A pretty and personal tribute to one of the great partnerships in ballet history. Artist Money (Anna Pavlova, 1982) stumbled into dance photography in the early 1960s after seeing the first televised performance of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. For the next several years he accompanied the dancers on tour and, against the constant objections of the two photo-phobes, managed to record them together in rehearsal and onstage. Many of the black-and-white images included here have never been published before, and they afford both a charmingly informal glimpse of the two artists and a record of the emotional power and style that made them sellouts at the box office. Most of the photos are maddeningly uncaptioned, but one picture of Fonteyn doing her tendus in a stone archway in Athens seems innocuous enough until one reads in the accompanying text that a workman had just missed bashing her head in with a beam. In the same series, we see Fonteyn stitching a toe shoe while Nureyev looks on; the young dancer had just announced that he would not dance that night. ``Perhaps we'd better just give the money back?'' Fonteyn replied calmly, stitching away. Unfortunately, we get few such intimate anecdotes and no real understanding of their working relationship. Fonteyn was an aging star, whom the Royal Ballet management was ready to shunt aside, Money tells us. Nureyev was a fiery young dancer, a recent defector from the Soviet Union. He renewed Fonteyn's career, even dared her, according to the author, to surpass herself. The magic of that interaction is missing from Money's text. But it is very present in his photos: Fonteyn's remarkably youthful Aurora exults in the arms of Nureyev, her Prince; as Romeo and Juliet they evince innocent love tragically betrayed. Both Fonteyn and Nureyev outdanced the usual span of a dancer's career; both died too young. Money's photos and sketches remind us of the way they were. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Videos

Documentary

Margot Fonteyn - A Portrait

Ballerina Margot Fonteyn attained perfection in one of the arts' most demanding disciplines. She had the title of Prima Ballerina Assoluta bestowed upon her and was a Dame of the British Empire. In this documentary portrait, made two years before her death, she remembers her life from her first dancing lesson when she was four years old, alongside recollections from figures such as Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann and Rudolf Nureyev.​

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Margot

Margot Fonteyn was the greatest dancer England has ever produced. In her life she transcended the world of dance and became a tabloid darling second to none, a true celebrity. And when, already in her forties, Fonteyn teamed up with Rudolf Nureyev, their astonishing union created one of the most brilliant and magical partnerships in all of ballet history. Their artistic and sexual chemistry electrified all those who were lucky enough to watch them perform. 
But her remarkable talent and façade of fastidious primness masked a dark torrent within. Fonteyn’s life was the stuff of unimaginable fiction: taken as an underage mistress; married to a Panamanian Ambassador; involved in an attempted coup; the lover of innumerable, often homosexual, public figures; a cultural icon of the swinging sixties; betrayed by her husband’s family, and, above all, a dancer of extraordinary physical eloquence and purity – all culminating in this fragile beauty dying a penniless, lonely recluse. 
This gripping film uncovers a mountain of archive footage, including memorable performances with Nureyev, and meetings with those who danced with her, knew her, and loved her.

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Fonteyn and Nureyev: The Perfect Partnership

Margot Fonteyn & Rudolf Nureyev.perhaps the greatest partnership in the history of ballet. For the first time, their most acclaimed performances, which have thrilled audiences worldwide, have been captured on one DVD. The program traces their partnership from its glorious inception in 1962 (in Giselle at Covent Garden), to its grand finale some 17 years later. It is unique in that it includes rare, behind-the-scenes footage of both dancers. This special tribute program has now become even more of a treasure due to the passing of both Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Their legendary partnership was recently hailed by the press as when ".ballet was never more gripping, never more transporting, that when her perfect pose met his ardent theatricality." Robert Powell narrates and ballet personalities such as dame Ninette de Valois, founder of The Royal Ballet, provide their thoughts and memories on the lives of Fonteyn, Nureyev and their association. The synergy of their partnership was electrifying, and their impact on the world of ballet remains unmatched. This collectors item is an intriguing visual biography of the greatest ballet partnership of all time.

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English

English

​Fonteyn was filmed at home in Panama, where she looked back on her past from her first dancing lesson when she was four years old, through the career which took her to the peak of public performance and world acclaim. The programme is presented by Fonteyn herself and she recalls events both professional and personal which made up the pattern of her life. In a career spanning more than four decades, she attained perfection in this most demanding of the arts, thrilling the public in both hemispheres. She had the supreme distinction of the title ‘Ballerina Assoluta’ bestowed upon her and was made a Dame of the British Empire. Her life was full of romance and adventure and it seemed incredible that this dignified ballerina should, at one time, have found herself at the centre of political intrigue and revolution. Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann and Rudolf Nureyev, the four most significant figures in her career, contribute to the programme. Their memories give substance to a truly amazing life. There is archive film of Margot dancing many of her great roles and extensive newsreel coverage of the important events in her life. Directed by Patricia Foy, 1989. © Licensed by Digital Classics Distribution

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Interview

English

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Performance

Ballet: Giselle
Composer: Adolphe Adam
Giselle: Margot Fonteyn,
Duke Albrecht: Rudolf Nureyev
Pro Arte Orchestra Conductor: Marcus Dods
​1962

​Ballet: Swan Lake
Composer: Tchaikowsky
​Odette: Margot Fonteyn
​Prince Siegfried: Rudolf Nureyev
16 May 1965

​Ballet: Swan Lake, Act 4 - Pas de deux
Composer: Tchaikowsky
​Odette: Margot Fonteyn
​Prince Siegfried: Rudolf Nureyev
1966

​Ballet: Romeo and Juliet, "Balcony Scene" from Act II
Composer: Prokofiev
Juliet: Margot Fonteyn
Romeo: Rudolf Nureyev
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden John Lanchbery
1966

​Ballet Swan Lake, Act 4 - Pas de deux
Composer: Tchaikowsky
​Odette: Margot Fonteyn
​Prince Siegfried: Rudolf Nureyev
1966

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