Off to the ballet this cold and frosty evening with friends! It's a performance by our local Youth Ballet Corps and should showcase some budding Fonteyns! Speaking of Giselle, I have seen several productions of that tragic story over the years but one stands out in my mind - that wonderful movie production of Giselle which featured the partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev made in 1962. I remember viewing it at the Monte Carlo Cinema in Cape Town when I was a teenager. The electricity between the 42 year old ballerina and the youthful Nureyev (aged 22) was tangible and so romantic! Who remembers it? Margot (1919-1991) was over 60 when she retired from ballet and she and Nureyev had a lifelong friendship. Margot was born Peggy Hookham to an English mother and Irish father in Surrey, England. Her stage name is much more exciting, isn't it? Nureyev defected to the West in 1961 and was a huge asset to Western ballet.
Then, tomorrow I am off to Bloemfontein to spend the weekend with my daughter and two little granddaughters. Now I guess not all of you have done a drive by through Bloemfontein recently!! Except perhaps for Denise Truesdale who spent some of her growing up in the landlocked little Kingdom of Lesotho, some distance from Bloem. Bloemfontein is about 450 km from Pretoria and the capital city of the Free State. It has the reputation of being South Africa's Hicksville. But that is only to those who do not know its charm, hidden assets (Art Museum and historical buildings, to name a few) and its warm, hospitable people. So more of Bloemfontein next week. And I think I should post a map of South Africa too so you can all orientate yourselves! Have fun this weekend!
