to want you all to watch Fonteyn and Nureyev on iPlayer

[Lionessadmirer]

Happy Monday Mumsnet.

so - last night the BBC showed Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev in Prokoviev's Romeo and Juliet.

I can't remember the last time something engaged me (got me off my ipad) so much. And that despite the slightly dodgy visual quality and the wobbly credits (think Acorn Antiques).

What got me was that Fonteyn seemed to take me through a whole life. First the bit when you are waiting for something to happen and trusting and optimistic. Then the plunge into love and surrender. Then a whole other stage of life when the love is still there but you have hurt each other deeply too. Then the end, knowing you can't pull away from each other but you can't make things right with other people either.

I think she was old for playing Juliet (in her 30s?) but she seems to have turned that into a plus - she put all her life experience into depicting a life journey that somehow both took a few days and yet covered a whole life.

And the music.........

that's all. It's on iPlayer. Guaranteed to improve quality of life x

ooh, thank you.

My mum took me to see these two dance when I was 9 in London . I’m not sure if it was around the time of this particular performance but I will definitely watch it. My mum died in an accident later that year so it will be poignant watching it and seeing if it triggers any memories of watching it live.

There is a whole board for discussing TV programmes.So, yes Yabu to clog this board up with your TV recommendations!

OP you might enjoy the documentary about Sergei Polunin.

The most amazing male ballet dancer. Amazing career. But his heart was never in it.

His final dance is a privately filmed solo to Take Me To Church. Even if you don't watch the documentary of his life, watch just that dance to that song. Easy to google 😊

Thank you OP, in these frankly stressful times it is good to be reminded of all of the beauty and wonder in the world x

Goodness me!

Thank you OP. I will look forward to watching this.

My boss gave me a ticket to see them live when I was a poor recent graduate in London.
I was absolutely spellbound by their performance. Such chemistry between them.

I saw this and it was great. I saw Nureyev dance, long ago!

Lots of stuff on YouTube too, and also the great Mikhail Baryshnikov - they really were astounding.

I still prefer Margot Fonteyn for some reason to say, Darcy Bussell. Not saying there's anything wrong with Darcy - but Margot just looks so neat, compact and controlled in everything she does.

@Lionessadmirer Margot Fonteyn was born in 1919. So 46 for this 1965 production of Romeo and Juliet. I thought she was supberb but looked older than say, Marinella Nunez does at 44 by some way. Different era. The costumes were amazing last night! No expense spared.

Miserable turd

Language, Timothy!

I watched this when it first came out and really enjoyed it. I know nothing about ballet!

i was pregnant at the time and picked the baby’s name after watching it!

It's absolute perfection and actually in my family it's a feel-good performance that we have on DVD and rewatch many times!

It's a shame that modern ballet has gone into the direction of "modern art" rather than classical staging and the staging of Romeo and Juliet that the Bolshoi brought to London a few years ago was literally unwatchable.

I remember watching this many years ago and being entranced by it. I wanted to be Margot Fonteyn 🤣

@Lionessadmirer I agree! And she was 47 years old 😲 - so amazing how she just became this flighty and young adolescent girl, I was transfixed. And beautiful Rudi, his spins !!! Not a ballet person at all, but it was mesmerising.

Oh yes - I watched this. I was mesmerised. And shocked by how physically and mentally gruelling the life of a professional ballet dancer really is. Having to take strong painkillers just to get through an evening’s work - it’s no wonder he cracked under the strain. But yes that solo performance at the end was breathtaking.

It is an amazing performance by both of them, the final scenes when Romeo thinks she is dead are superbly acted by Fonteyn and very moving. Worth hanging on to see the final curtain calls, flowers and gracious acknowledgements , you don’t get that in theatres any more!

Ugh he's a bit of an idiot in real life though. And he married my favourite ice dancer getting her to throw away her career for marriage and babies 😬

If you can find it the documentary about Steven McRaes fight to get back to dance after serious injury is well worth it, though harrowing in terms of his physicality! It’s called Dancing back to the Light.

Very interesting btw about how the RB supported his return but are quite happy it seems not to support leading ballerinas, like his wife, back after maternity leave. I suppose top flight male dancers are just too rare a commodity, but it was a bit sad to see.

Thank you. I need some good recommendations

I chanced upon this last night and it was mesmerising. It also reminded me of my (now sadly gone) mum - she loved Nureyev and Fonteyn and ballet in general, despite having no background in dance or music. A reminder of what makes us human and how a brilliant story, portrayed so beautifully can be accessible to all.

FORTY SEVEN??????

I thought maybe 30!

I saw this in real life!

How was it?

She was the Chancellor who conferred my degree. She was absolutely minuscule, so delicate. We each had to shake her hand and were told to be very gentle and not squeeze her too hard, which we all found nerve wracking!