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The bow with Margot Fonteyn


tomuchtallent

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im not a great writer but i have to tell this great story.

 

This summer my dds ballet teacher took a break for a month and a lovely mature lady stood in for the lessons.

After one of the lessons we got talking and when she found out i was British she started telling me  how she 

became the first ever Turkish girl to gain a full scholarship to attend the Royal Ballet School in London.

 

Here is one of the stories

 

In 1948 Dame Ninette De Valois opened the first ballet school in Turkey.My dds teacher was only about 5 when she gained a place in the school and had never seen ballet before,neither had any of the other students who were chosen.

 

When the students were in their teens the school decided to put on Swan Lake but didnt have any principle dancers for the main roles. Margot Fonteyn and another male star where asked to dance the parts.

 

My dds teacher and her best friend were the 1st soloists.Their teacher who was British was extremely strict  and warned them that when they take a bow at the end,not to dare stand in the same line as Magot Fonteyn or they would be beaten!!

 

Anyway,as the performance ended the teachers were in the wings watching, and the girls stayed a row behind Magot Fonteyn and her partner.All of a sudden Magot and her partner looked behind them and took the girls hands for a bow at the front!

The teacher was so mad she came on stage and pulled her to the wings and started  beating her!Magot Fonteyn looked to the wing and saw what was happening and went to pull her back on stage.Neither of them would let go of her arms and she was half on and half off the stage!Well,she new she was going to be in big trouble so she pushed her teacher away and went on stage and  took a very long bow with Margot Fonteyn!

 

Hope you enjoyed!

 
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I remember reading ,must have been in the late `70`s or early `80`s about Margot Fonteyn giving a performance in Manchester at either the Opera House or the Palace Theatre. People queued up outside overnight to get tickets. Me and my mum knew nothing about it until we read about it in the Manchester Evening News. The tickets cost £40 each, and when Margot heard how much they were charging she was furious and told whoever it was that it was far too much money. Apparently she was quite angry about people having to pay so much. Very humble.

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