Margot Fonteyn's "The Magic of Dance" discussion thread

[alison]

 

[Geoff]

1 hour ago, Two Pigeons said:

Any chance of the BBC would now repeat Makarova's series "Ballerina" and then Peter Schaufuss in "Dancer"?  If nothing else it would mean that BBC 4 is going out  in a blaze of glory

 

I suggest that everyone who has posted enthusiastically here writes to the current Director General of the BBC, Tim Davie, and stresses the value of BBC4 showing these series: tim.davie@bbc.co.uk

 

His office is used to being lobbied and past history shows that if enough people write on a specific issue, it can have a positive impact on decisions. It is after all "our" BBC. 

[LinMM]

I’d forgotten this! 
However there is an article dated March 2023 which says they are considering doing a U turn regarding BBC 4 as it is comparative low cost and has undoubted popularity with the public……But can’t see any news after that date. 
 

[Scheherezade]

9 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I’d forgotten this! 
However there is an article dated March 2023 which says they are considering doing a U turn regarding BBC 4 as it is comparative low cost and has undoubted popularity with the public……But can’t see any news after that date. 
 

 

Let's hope you're right on the u-turn.

[Geoff]

11 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

 

Let's hope you're right on the u-turn.

 

Try writing to the DG, as above, to press the point!

[Fonty]

21 hours ago, Emeralds said:

It's unbelievably popular though- it seems to have overtaken Fille as the most popular Ashton acquisition by ballet companies around the world (cheaper to stage than Fille but Fille does better at the box office!) 

 

My perception is that slightly older ballerinas enjoy dancing it, perhaps those coming to the end of their careers?  Maybe because it isn't technically as challenging, but allows them a great deal of emotional output?  

Having said that, I did see Rojo in it, and I think it was a long time before she actually retired.  I thought she was very good, but that kind of role was perfect for her.  Can't remember who her partner was.  

[Emeralds]

11 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

My perception is that slightly older ballerinas enjoy dancing it, perhaps those coming to the end of their careers?  Maybe because it isn't technically as challenging, but allows them a great deal of emotional output?  

Having said that, I did see Rojo in it, and I think it was a long time before she actually retired.  I thought she was very good, but that kind of role was perfect for her.  Can't remember who her partner was.  

Yes, it's very popular with ballerinas as a farewell performance ballet: Tamara Rojo (both runs at RB with Sergei Polunin, although she did dance the pas de deux in the white dress and the country house scene with Rupert Pennefather as Armand and James Streeter of ENB as Armand's father as an excerpt in a gala abroad), Zenaida Yanowsky (with Roberto Bolle although she danced it with Federico Bonelli the previous run- I was sad not to have been able to catch their dates in that earlier run), Greta Hodgkinson of National Ballet of Canada, Amy Harris of Australian Ballet, and now Yuan Yuan Tan of San Francisco Ballet has picked it for her farewell from SFB later this year as well. 

 

Rojo's was just a farewell to RB but the others apart from Tan were pre-retirement farewells; Rojo's actual pre-retirememt farewell performance was the lead in Akram Khan's Giselle. I guess as it doesn't have a lot of demanding jumps or fouettes it is kinder on ballerinas with past injuries. I supposedly with time most people will just get used to it being danced in a certain way (I call it in fourth gear as opposed to 5th gear!) but when one watches the recording of Fonteyn and Nureyev- wow, what a thunderbolt of a performance! 

[Two Pigeons]

5 hours ago, LinMM said:

Why is BBC 4 under threat currently then? 

Pretty constantly these days I am afraid.  It hasn't produced anything for some years now but at least it is filling its schedules with some fabulous repeats.

 

Some of the vintage drama is unbelievably good.  I particularly enjoyed the two Noel Coward plays, The Vortex and A Song at Twilight with Deborah Kerr and Paul Schofield.  Fabulous diction and decent lighting.

[alison]

Thanks for reminding me.  I recorded The Vortex ('m sure it wasn't only 75 minutes long when I saw it in the theatre many decades ago), but much of it ended up all pixellated and pretty much unwatchable.  I suppose I could look it up on iPlayer.

[Fonty]

BBC4 has always been my channel of choice, because I have seen such interesting things about art, music, history.  Sadly not much dance, which is why this programme is such a joy to see again.  

[Jane S]

15 hours ago, alison said:

 

 

Am I right in thinking that that recording of the ballet also appeared in full on I Am A Dancer?  I do have that, but perhaps only on VHS.  Am I also right in thinking that this is generally regarded as the less good of the two Fonteyn/Nureyev recordings?

 

I don't think it's the same one - I haven't got I am a Dancer but snippets on Youtube seem to show a very different decor.

 

Edit:  I do have I am a Dancer and it's defintiely not the same recording.

[Scheherezade]

5 hours ago, Two Pigeons said:

 

Some of the vintage drama is unbelievably good.  I particularly enjoyed the two Noel Coward plays, The Vortex and A Song at Twilight with Deborah Kerr and Paul Schofield.  Fabulous diction and decent lighting.

Shifting sideways a little, A Song at Twilight is scheduled for July at Richmond’s fabulous Orange Tree Theatre (very possibly my favourite theatre at the moment - Trevor Nunn’s Uncle Vanya will be running somewhat earlier in March and April), along with Noel Coward’s Suite in Three Keys. 

[Mary]

On 21/01/2024 at 11:27, Lizbie1 said:

 

I've never been fussed about it until seeing this episode - what a difference the original cast makes!

 

Others' mileage will vary IMO Ashton was right to retire it.

I just watched this again - how emotionally devastating it is. I fully agree it it should have been left to Fonteyn and Nureyev because it was for and about them- not literally of course, but about their relationship as performers, and the unique magic they made together.

 

On 21/01/2024 at 12:20, Jane S said:

I wish it  had been left as a legend.

what a lovely phrase, 'left as a legend' -it sums it up perfectly.

 

[LinMM]

Finally finished The Magic of Dance and what a treat Marguerite and Armand was!! It’s very difficult to imagine any other dancer getting that unique vulnerability in performance that Fonteyn had. 
In the performances I saw for real the necklace ripping off scene was far more dramatic and demeaning than it seemed to come off in that film. 
Also Nureyev more distraught right at the end than the film seemed to show. 
Also it was lovely to see the Salut D’Amour Piece again as I was at that gala and involved in the flower throw!! 
I don’t think there was a dry eye in the House when Sir Fred came on. 
Treasured moments! 
 

[Sim]

On 22/01/2024 at 14:00, Fonty said:

 

My perception is that slightly older ballerinas enjoy dancing it, perhaps those coming to the end of their careers?  Maybe because it isn't technically as challenging, but allows them a great deal of emotional output?  

Having said that, I did see Rojo in it, and I think it was a long time before she actually retired.  I thought she was very good, but that kind of role was perfect for her.  Can't remember who her partner was.  

Sergei Polunin?  She was brought back after she left the RB so that she could have a proper farewell performance.  I was at both and thought they did very, very well.  I have only seen Fonetyn/Nureyev on TV, so I can't really compare in a fair way...but I loved Rojo/Polunin in it.  

[Roberta]

I think part of the success of Marguerite And Armand should be credited to the great designer Cecil Beaton, with his 'gilded cage' set, and the magnificent and immensely glamourous gowns he designed for Margot Fonteyn. Here is an album of six photographs from the Royal Opera House collection, both the red and white costumes.  Later productions carried on the theme, though the details altered. 

 

 

 

[Fonty]

6 hours ago, LinMM said:

Also it was lovely to see the Salut D’Amour Piece again as I was at that gala and involved in the flower throw!! 
I don’t think there was a dry eye in the House when Sir Fred came on. 
Treasured moments! 
 

 

I found that on Youtube last year, and it really brought a tear to my eye.  Critics used to talk about Fonteyn's wonderful "speaking" eyes, and I could see exactly what they meant in this piece.  

 

I am slowly working my way through the series.  Watched the Romantics episode with my partner, and he  enjoyed the excerpts from Les Sylphides, which surprised me a bit.  Normally he isn't a fan of what he calls a lot of floating around and no story, but he was impressed with how together the corps were!  

 

I also found the talk about pointe shoes interesting.  I belonged to the group who crushed theirs in a door to soften them up, but I love the idea of someone carrying a little hammer around to bash them into shape.  

[LinMM]

I don’t remember doing anything really drastic to my pointe shoes just bashed them around a bit but once they were worn in they were practically with me for life lol! 
I’m sure I didn’t do my feet much good ( they are certainly rather ugly these days) dancing in soft pointe shoes as I hated having to buy new ones so much!! 
I’ve enjoyed the comprehensiveness of this series and Fonteyns engaging but purposeful delivery. 

Edited January 26 by LinMM

[Fonty]

17 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I don’t remember doing anything really drastic to my pointe shoes just bashed them around a bit but once they were worn in they were practically with me for life lol! 
I’m sure I didn’t do my feet much good ( they are certainly rather ugly these days) dancing in soft pointe shoes as I hated having to buy new ones so much!! 
I’ve enjoyed the comprehensiveness of this series and Fonteyns engaging but purposeful delivery. 

 

I tried to get my shoes as soft as possible.  I had (and presumably still have) very sturdy feet that didn't require an ultra hard shoe.  But I didn't have very high arches.  The girls with very highly arched feet really struggled with their shoes.  

[serenade]

Thanks to the forum for highlighting this series was on!  I am now on episode 3 and really loving it, Margot has such a nice presenting style.  Love all the info and clips.  Personal highlights so far are the appearances by Fred Astaire and Sammy Davis Jnr, wow!  and visit to Tchaikovsky's house.  

[Jen2307]

Does anyone know why Kenneth Macmillan's ballets weren't mentioned on The Magic of Dance?

[Lizbie1]

1 minute ago, Jen2307 said:

Does anyone know why Kenneth Macmillan's ballets weren't mentioned on The Magic of Dance?

 I was wondering the same, and about Cranko too. There was a surprising amount of Roland Petit though!

[Fonty]

1 hour ago, Jen2307 said:

Does anyone know why Kenneth Macmillan's ballets weren't mentioned on The Magic of Dance?

It wasn't just about ballet, and Fonteyn does do a very comprehensive sweep of the history of dance with interesting asides on things such as shoes, stage effects and so on.  I suppose she couldn't mention everything, and where she does talk about ballet specifically, it is perfectly understandable that she concentrates on a lot of the stuff that she performed so wonderfully herself.  

Plus, of course, there was all the controversy about R & J.  As a matter of interest, did MacMillan ever choreograph something specifically for Fonteyn?  

 

 

[Jen2307]

I don't think MacMillan did choreograph for Fonteyn. I just seemed a shame and rather odd not even to mention him as his ballets were around in 1979, Margot must have known him well from R&J. I wonder if he was hurt by this, as he was so sensitive.

[Pas de Quatre]

It has been recorded in various biographies that there was a lot of bad feeling between Ashton and Macmillan, so maybe out of loyalty?

[jmhopton]

I did email the Radio Times letters section, praising the Magic of Dance and the decision to show it in its entirety. However, another person beat me to it. But there was another letter  in the 3-9 Feb RT by someone who was filmed in the corps de ballet of the Les Sylphides shown in the programme but had missed seeing the original screening. She saw herself dancing on TV for the first time though she is now in her 70s! She said what was even more wonderful was she could show it to her daughter. A lovely story.

[Fonty]

14 hours ago, jmhopton said:

I did email the Radio Times letters section, praising the Magic of Dance and the decision to show it in its entirety. However, another person beat me to it. But there was another letter  in the 3-9 Feb RT by someone who was filmed in the corps de ballet of the Les Sylphides shown in the programme but had missed seeing the original screening. She saw herself dancing on TV for the first time though she is now in her 70s! She said what was even more wonderful was she could show it to her daughter. A lovely story.

 

I read that as well.  I was going to write myself, but then I wondered if the BBC takes notice of the Radio Times feedback?  Perhaps emailing the BBC might be a better option?

I finally saw the last programme in the series.  I love Salut d'Amour.  The wonderful music, Ashton kissing Fonteyn's hand as he steps on stage, her radiant smile as she leaves the stage for the last time, all combine to bring a tear to my eye every time I watch it.  

 

I do have to say that I thought it was a pity that so much of the last programme was devoted to Marguerite and Armand.  I have never really liked it, and even though it was being danced by Fonteyn and Nureyev, nothing convinced me to change my mind.  Still, I can see why it was included, and the costumes were gorgeous.  I

 

I am glad that I now have a permanent copy of this wonderful programme that I can refer back to from time to time.