Margot Fonteyn
Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE, was an English ballerina. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionDancer
Date of Birth18 May 1919
Margot Fonteyn quotes about
advice alike art life mediocrity pretension sort
Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike
magic genius inexplicable
Genius is another word for magic.
daughter mother age
The essential thing about mothers is that one needs to know that they are there, particularly at that age when, paradoxically, one is trying so hard to break away from parental influence.
perfect found partners
I’ve found the perfect partner.
remains continents oneself
...wherever one is, some part of oneself remains on another continent.
dance taken dancing
Dancing was something to be taken very seriously when engaged in and otherwise put out of mind.
world sometimes wilderness
Life offstage has sometimes been a wilderness of unpredictables in an unchoreographed world.
dance firsts moments
Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the first time
dance civilization special
The world of dance is a natural world from which civilization has divorced many of us by making it appear remote - something reserved for the few who have a special talent.
thinking artist long
I think perhaps I've learned to be myself. I have a theory that all artists who would be important - painters and writers - must learn to be themselves. It takes a very long time.
trying patterns return
Life forms illogical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?
home curse continents
Traveling carries with it the curse of being at home everywhere and yet nowhere, for wherever one is some part of oneself remains on another continent.
important done might
There is no way anything of value can be done without some framework. It might well be that the framework is discarded or the rules opposed; that is not important. What is essential is that they exist so that one knows when one is in opposition to them.
athlete artist dancing
Dancers are both athletes and artists.