Born in Reigate, England, Margot Fonteyn (the stage name of Margaret Hookham) is thought by many critics to have been the best British dancer of the mid-twentieth century. Fonteyn began her career as a snowflake in a production of The Nutcracker with the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1931. She remained with this company, which later became the Royal Ballet, for her entire career. In 1935 she performed her first important role with the company as the lead in a revival of Frederick Ashton's Rio Grande. She created many roles with Ashton, including Le Baiser de la Fee (1935), The Haunted Ballroom (1939), Symphonic Variations (1946), and The Fairy Queen (1946). Fonteyn eventually became the Royal… Ballet's foremost prima ballerina. Especially notable was her partnering with Rudolph Nureyev during a creative partnership that became legendary. An expressive, versatile performer, Fonteyn was the first ballerina of international status developed by a British ballet school and company.
German writer, composer, and painter ErnstTheodor Amadeus Hoffman was born in Konigsberg, Prussia in 1776. After beginning a career in the law, Hoffman turned to music, working as a conductor, music director, and critic, and later composing a ballet, an opera, and other works. He established himself as a writer with the four-volume story collection Phatasiestucke in Callier Manier (Fantasy Stories in the Manner of Callot), which was published in 1814-1815. Even though he published several novels and story collections, including Nachtstucke (Hoffman's Strange Stories, 1817) and Die Serapionsbruder (The Serapion Brethren, 1819-1821), Hoffman continued to support himself as a legal official in… Berlin. This struggle between artistry and bureaucracy is played out in many of his works. Hoffman died of progressive paralysis in 1822.
Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE, (18 May, 1919, Reigate, Surrey, United Kingdom - 21 February, 1991, Panama City, Panama), the British prima ballerina assoluta, was considered by many to be the greatest English ballerina, and one of the greatest dancers of the 20th Century. Prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn gives one last gift to the world of dance with this enchanting retelling of a classic ballet.