Wednesday 31 March 2010

Margot Fonteyn: Salut d’Amour


If you combine the dancing of one of the greatest ballerina’s of all time, with the choreography of Sir Frederick Ashton and the Victorian elegance of Sir Edward Elgar’s charming Salut d'Amour(1888) the result will be guaranteed to be absolutely magic.
This short ballet was especially choreographed by Ashton for Fonteyn’s 60th birthday celebrations in 1991. The dance is really a recapitulation of some of the roles that made her famous. The piece ends with a cameo appearance on the stage of Sir Frederick doing a gentle version of the ‘Fred Step.’
In spite of the fact that she was suffering from an arthritic foot, the poise and the sheer beauty of this piece is stunning. As someone has posted on the YouTube link to this video it is 'A Kiss to the Universe from Sir Frederick...'
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Watch this moving performance at YouTube

2 comments:

corylus said...

That was amazing - just browsing your archive and stumbled across it. Thanks for all you post.

Unknown said...

Makes me cry every time. So beautiful.