Ruth Leon recommends… Fonteyn and Nureyev – Giselle 1962
Ruth Leon recommendsFonteyn and Nureyev – Giselle 1962
My theory is, you can never have too much Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev so, when I come across an unusual clip of the two of them, or one I haven’t seen for a long time, I need to share it with you.
This is an early one, Giselle from 1962, Nureyev’s debut with the Royal Ballet and the beginning of their 17-year partnership. No need for words.
Thank you very much for that. I have seen dozens of Giselles, many very good indeed with some of the greatest practitioners of the role. But I never saw Fonteyn live — him, yes, but he was clearly past his best.
This excerpt is wondrous, and it is mostly her, though there is little wrong with his technique. But it is always thus in Giselle — it has some of the most perfect pure ballet in the classical rep, but for the girls.
She, as well as anyone I have seen, conveys where the real nobility is in this pair. (He manages to portray the Prince as having the soul of a peasant).
I’d love to see it all, but will settle, if I can find it, for the Bruhn-Fracci version.
Any chance, on the principle of never too much of this pair, of digging up a Marguerite and Armand?
she was excellent, he was a one in 3-4 generations phenomen
They were geniuses of the artform who were each other’s greatest admirers. They learned so much from each other and were a phenomenal partnership, professionally, and as devoted lifelong friends. This is an abridged version of their sensational Giselle which they did for the BBC. The only other Giselle footage of them that exists as far as I know is newsreel clips of the first act in Australia a couple of years later.
It was something remarkable — certainly extended her career by a great deal, and given this excerpt, how lucky we were. And she was the making of him as a fully rounded artist — she and Bruhn.