Fun fact: When Dame Margot Fonteyn was a little girl she saw a picture of a dancer and
asked her mother, ‘Who is that lady?’ Her mother replied, ‘That is Anna Pavlova, the greatest
dancer in the world.’ Margot said, ‘Then I’ll be the second greatest!’
Born Margaret Hookham in England in 1919, she was called Peggy in her childhood. She
began dance lessons at the age of four and moved to China with her parents at the age of
nine. Margot had no real dreams of becoming a dancer but continued lessons in China with
an ex-Russian dancer. She was a reluctant student but was competitive. Her Mother
believed Margot had the ability to do well so at the age of 14, she returned to London to
pursue a ballet career and was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School (known today as
the Royal Ballet).
In 1934 she danced as a snowflake in The Nutcracker and over the next five years,
performed the principal roles in Giselle, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. At the age of
20, she became the Company’s Prima Ballerina and her performance in Swan Lake had
convinced critics that a British Ballerina could successfully dance the lead role in a full-length classical Russian Ballet. A year later she changed her surname to Fonteyn for which she was known for the rest of her professional life, based on her Grandfather’s surname “Fontes” which means “fountain” in Portuguese.
In 1946 the company moved to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden where Margot
danced the character of Auroa at a command performance of The Sleeping Beauty. This
would become one of her most distinguishing roles. Another role which would become one
of her most greatest achievements was the “Firebird” due to her ability to use her jetes to
simulate flight of the bird.
During her wonderful career on stage, Dame Margot partnered for ten years with Australian
dancer Sir Robert Helpmann and in 1964, they toured together in Sydney and Melbourne
with the Australian Ballet, performing in Giselle and Swan Lake.
In 1962, at a time when many people thought Margot was about to retire, she began a dance partnership with Rudolph Nureyev, the star of the Kirov Ballet. She danced with him in his debut with the Royal Ballet in Giselle. They immediately became an international sensation; a partnership that would last for the next 19 years.
Dame Margot retired in 1979 at the age of 60 and will be remembered as one of the greatest dancers in the history of ballet, receiving Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1956 Queen New Year Honours List for her services to ballet.
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