Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in The Sleeping Beauty. Photograph by Mira.

New York, NY, February 27, 2004 -- On October 9, 1949, the Sadler's Wells Ballet (later the Royal Ballet) introduced Margot Fonteyn to America at the Metropolitan Opera House as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. Her luminous stage presence, profound musicality, and exquisite line so captivated the audience that her performance passed into legend overnight. Beginning May 18, the exhibition Margot Fonteyn in America: A Celebration will be on view through September 3 in the Vincent Astor Gallery at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY. Admission is free.

Margot Fonteyn in America: A Celebration will coincide with the international observance of Frederick Ashton's centennial, a focus of the 2004 Lincoln Center Festival. At the time of her New York debut, Fonteyn was already celebrated as the British choreographer's muse, having created roles in many of Ashton's works. Then, in 1962, she began a partnership with Rudolf Nureyev that extended her career into the 1980s. Many Americans were introduced to ballet through the dancing of this prima ballerina assoluta.

Featuring costumes, personal and professional photographs, and films, the exhibition progresses from the pointe shoes Fonteyn wore on that magical opening night in New York to a photograph of a stage heaped with flowers at the curtain call of her final Aurora in the United States -- and beyond. It will guide visitors through Fonteyn's remarkable career in this country, focusing on her collaborations with Ashton and Nureyev, as well as her iconic roles in ballets from Swan Lake to Romeo and Juliet. Going beyond dance, the exhibition explores Fonteyn's elegant personal style through some of her glittering dresses designed by Yves St. Laurent, and indicates the strong impression she made on the social life of the time.

Materials for Margot Fonteyn in America: A Celebration come from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and from private collections. Costumes are on loan from The Royal Opera House Archives, Covent Garden; the dresses are on loan from the Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent in Paris. The exhibition has been made possible by the generosity of the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation and was developed by Joy Williams Brown and Robert Gottlieb. A complementary series of free public programs, to be announced at a later date, will run in conjunction with the exhibition.

"Margot Fonteyn was undeniably the most famous and most beloved ballerina of the second half of the 20th century. Her performances throughout the United States were a force in the growth in popularity of ballet," noted Jacqueline Z. Davis, The Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Margot Fonteyn in America: A Celebration will be on view from May 18, 2004 through September 3, 2004 in the Vincent Astor Gallery, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York. Exhibition hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 12 noon to 6 p.m.; Thursday, 12 noon to 8 p.m.; closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays. Admission is free. For further information, telephone 212.870.1630, or visit www.nypl.org.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses the world's most extensive combination of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. Its divisions are the Circulating Collections, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Music Division, Billy Rose Theatre Collection, and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound. The materials in its collections are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. The Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters and photographs.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the leadership support of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Additional support for exhibitions has been provided by Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg and the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Foundation.

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Contact: Rima Corben or Herb Scher at 212.704.8600.