Fonteyn & Nureyev: the great years

Abstract

Keith Money was beginning the first of his noted photographic books on the ballet exactly at the time the great partnership of Fonteyn and Nureyev was formed, and from the start he had a privileged view of the moulding of the two dancers into the team that was to take the world by storm in the 1960s. Money's camera recorded matters on an hour-to-hour, day-to-day basis, from first rehearsals to public performance. To complete certain sequences, the photographer (who had become a close friend of his subjects) often travelled extensively; once he joined the pair on a 7000-mile round trip. He has now assembled a panoramic selection of masterprints to provide a record of one of the outstanding theatrical experiences of our time. Money's introduction and commentary provide a counterpoint to his photographic history. Every mood is displayed, from high comedy to tragedy, and we see the moods backstage as well, recorded by someone deeply versed in the exactitude of ballet.