Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margot Fonteyn, Fonteyn de Arias 1955, 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 ).
She spent part of her childhood in China. As a 14 -year-old, she returned with her parents to England and applied at the Vic -Wells Ballet. There she gave her debut as a dancer in 1934 as a snowflake in The Nutcracker. A few years later, when 17 -year-old, she entered the successor to the prima ballerina Alicia Markova. Their collaboration with the choreographer Frederick Ashton brought forth famous ballets such as Daphnis and Chloe, Symphonic Variations or Undine (music by Hans Werner Henze ). With its technical perfection, great musicality and understated elegance she coined the English style and helped the English ballet to worldwide recognition.
In 1954, she was President of the Royal Academy of Dance. In 1956 her the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II has been awarded, and she married a native of Panama diplomat Roberto de Arias.
On 19th/20th. April 1959 were involved in an attempted coup of 125 Cuban revolutionaries against the Panamanian government Margot Fonteyn and her husband. She was arrested, but was allowed a few days later left the country. On a trip to Cuba in early 1959, shortly after the victory of the Cuban Revolution, she met with Fidel Castro, who pledged their support for the planned overthrow of the Panamanian government.
When Rudolf Nureyev in 1961 left the Soviet Union and was invited to the Royal Ballet in London, she was already 42, which was 19 years older than he, his partner. Together They appeared on in Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Marguerite and Armand. This partnership coined the Ballet of the 20th century until Fonteyn retired in the early seventies from the ballet, and moved to Panama in order to care for her husband, who was paralyzed after an assassination attempt. There she died in 1991 from cancer.