Research Catalog

Fonteyn and Nureyev: The perfect partnership

Title: Fonteyn and Nureyev: The perfect partnership [videorecording] / produced by Peter Batty Productions for Channel Four ; written and directed by Peter Batty.
Publication: U.K. : Channel Four, c1985 ; West Long Branch, N.J. : distributed by Kultur.

Details

Additional Authors

Description

1 videocassette (90 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences NTSC; 1/2 in. (VHS)

Summary

Documentary about the 17-year partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, which lasted from 1962 until Fonteyn's retirement in 1979. The program explores their contrasts in background, personality and dance qualities, and the mutually beneficial chemistry between them. Fonteyn's career is traced back to her start with the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1935 ; the discussion of Nureyev's career begins with his defection from the Kirov Ballet in 1961. The commentators assess their impact in ways large and small, both separately and in tandem: the electric excitement of their performances, their creation of a new public for ballet, Nureyev's revitalization of the image of the male dancer, their elevation of the curtain call into an art form in itself. The program is illustrated with selections from their many film and video recordings, including An evening with the Royal Ballet (1963), Romeo and Juliet (1966), and I am a dancer (1972), as well as news coverage of significant events in their lives. Substantial excerpts from Sir Frederick Ashton's Marguerite and Armand, created for them in 1963, are preceded by commentaries by Ashton, Fonteyn and Nureyev ; also featured is footage of a dress rehearsal of Birthday offering, revived by Ashton in 1968, in which the choreographer is seen working with the two dancers.

Donor/Sponsor

Gift of the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation.

Series Statement

Rudolf Nureyev Collection.

Uniform Title

Corsair (Choreographic work : Nureyev after Petipa, M). Pas de deux.
Sylphides (Choreographic work : Grigoriev, S and Tchernicheva after Fokin)
Marguerite and Armand (Choreographic work : Ashton)
Birthday offering (Choreographic work : Ashton)
Romeo and Juliet (Choreographic work : MacMillan)
Lucifer (Choreographic work : Graham)

Subjects

Genre/Form

Dance.
Documentaries and factual films and programs.
Video.

Note

Commercially released version of a television documentary ; slightly abridged. For a longer (99 min.) version, see: *MGZIA 4-4198 RNC.

Performer (note)

Interviewees: Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Ninette de Valois, Roberta Lazzarini, Jane Edgeworth, Keith Money, Wayne Sleep, David Scrase, Larry Parker, Clement Crisp, Sir Frederick Ashton, Bonnie Prandato, Michael Wood, Joan Thring [not identified on tape].
Also appearing: Alicia Markova ; members of the Vic-Wells Ballet ; members of the Sadler's Wells Ballet ; Dr. Roberto Arias ; Mavis Nicholson.
Narrator: Robert Powell.

Event (note)

Originally telecast in the U.K. by Channel Four on December 25, 1986.

Contents

Dance contents: Le corsaire pas de deux. Adagio [excerpt], coda / from An evening with the Royal Ballet, 1963 ; chor., Nureyev after Petipa ; mus., Drigo ; danced by Nureyev and Fonteyn -- [Solo] (b&w) / BBC, 1937 ; danced by Fonteyn -- Les sylphides. Prelude, pas de deux / from An evening with the Royal Ballet, 1963 ; chor., Serge Grigoriev and Lubov Tchernicheva after Michel Fokine ; mus., Chopin ; danced by Fonteyn and Nureyev with the Royal Ballet -- Marguerite and Armand [excerpts] / from I am a dancer, 1972 ; chor., Ashton ; mus., Liszt ; danced by Fonteyn and Nureyev with the Royal Ballet -- Romeo and Juliet. Balcony scene pas de deux / from the film directed by Paul Czinner, 1966 ; chor., Kenneth MacMillan ; mus., Prokofiev ; danced by Fonteyn and Nureyev -- Birthday offering [excerpt] / filmed in dress rehearsal onstage, 1968 ; chor., Ashton ; mus., Glazunov ; danced by Fonteyn and Nureyev -- Lucifer [excerpt] / filmed in 1975 ; chor., Martha Graham ; mus., Halim El-Dabh ; danced by Fonteyn and Nureyev with the Martha Graham Dance Company -- Romeo and Juliet. Tomb scene / see credits above ; danced by Nureyev and Fonteyn with the Royal Ballet.

Call Number

*MGZIA 4-682

OCLC

NYPY896039293-F

Title

Fonteyn and Nureyev: The perfect partnership [videorecording] / produced by Peter Batty Productions for Channel Four ; written and directed by Peter Batty.

Imprint

U.K. : Channel Four, c1985 ; West Long Branch, N.J. : distributed by Kultur.

Series

Rudolf Nureyev Collection.

Event

Originally telecast in the U.K. by Channel Four on December 25, 1986.

Performer

Interviewees: Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Ninette de Valois, Roberta Lazzarini, Jane Edgeworth, Keith Money, Wayne Sleep, David Scrase, Larry Parker, Clement Crisp, Sir Frederick Ashton, Bonnie Prandato, Michael Wood, Joan Thring [not identified on tape].

Also appearing: Alicia Markova ; members of the Vic-Wells Ballet ; members of the Sadler's Wells Ballet ; Dr. Roberto Arias ; Mavis Nicholson.

Narrator: Robert Powell.

Local Subject

Ballet in television. Fonteyn and Nureyev: the perfect partnership.

Added Author

Fonteyn, Margot, 1919-1991, dancer.

Nureyev, Rudolf, 1938-1993, dancer. Interviewee

Ashton, Frederick, 1904-1988, choreographer. Interviewee

Powell, Robert, 1944- Narrator

Markova, Alicia, Dame, 1910-2004, dancer.

Lazzarini, Roberta. Interviewee

De Valois, Ninette, 1898-2001. Interviewee

Edgeworth, Jane, 1919-1997. Interviewee

Money, Keith. Interviewee

Sleep, Wayne. Interviewee

Scrase, David. Interviewee

Crisp, Clement. Interviewee

Wood, Michael. Interviewee

Thring, Joan. Interviewee

Batty, Peter. Producer. Director. Author

Fokine, Michel, 1880-1942, choreographer.

MacMillan, Kenneth, choreographer.

Graham, Martha, choreographer.

Fonteyn, Margot, 1919-1991. Interviewee

Royal Ballet.

Vic-Wells Ballet.

Sadler's Wells Ballet.

Martha Graham Dance Company.

Peter Batty Productions.

Channel Four (Great Britain)

Kultur International Films.

Added Title

Corsair (Choreographic work : Nureyev after Petipa, M). Pas de deux.

Sylphides (Choreographic work : Grigoriev, S and Tchernicheva after Fokin)

Marguerite and Armand (Choreographic work : Ashton)

Birthday offering (Choreographic work : Ashton)

Romeo and Juliet (Choreographic work : MacMillan)

Lucifer (Choreographic work : Graham)

Research Call Number

*MGZIA 4-682

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