Yes, Misa - I agree with you very much - Fonteyn was as much an actress as a dancer. A great ballerina is judged for her acting as well as her dancing. Some of our younger dancers might not realize that. The ballet is so much more than extensions, and grand battement.<P>Fonteyn was known to have said that she believed that one needed to be at least 40 yrs. of age in order to play a teenage Juliet.<P>One of my favorite scenes is the ballroom where Romeo and Juliet first set eyes on each other. How many of us, on a warm summer night, have been in a crowded place and seen "HIM" or "HER" - that special being who for some magic reason makes the heart flutter.....we don't even know the person...but the flutter is there.<P>Across a crowded room....and in this ballet, they look, and look away, and then look again and finally can't take their eyes from one another. Who amongst us hasn't had that kind of moment?<P>Romeo circles her chair as she is playing her lute, and she glances at him, again and again....everytime I see that scene, I find new magic in it.

I was still very young when I saw Fonteyn dance Juliet. We sat at the top of the Met. I thought she was a teen-ager. Curtain calls went on forever at that performance, and I wanted to see her close up. So we descended tier by tier in the opera house, entering the house at every level, to join in the applause, until we got to the orchestra level for the last front-of-curtain bow. I dashed to the front of the orchestra, and only that close up was Fonteyn's age visible. I'll bet, though, that even in the first row center, while she was playing with her doll, she was a teen-ager. A great artist, to be sure.

Walking and running seem so simple but are the hard... I was told to walk leading with my chest, still in proper posture but bringing my feet and seat with me. Running is really interesting, all the analogies that my teachers have used. For girls, they use the old Balanchine saying at tell them to run like a sandpiper, quickly and quietly. i have also been told to run with many feet, and to be sparkly... Men have been told to run like a lion, with low and long steps, almost smalljumps. How have all of you been told to run?

hmm..I can't quite remember exactly how I was "told" to run but I do know what I have always visualized. I have a lovely tape that I watched over & over when I was young- The Kirov Ballet in Swan Lake. The swan corps does A LOT of running in this ballet and that is my perfect image of beauty right there! All the lovely swans running into their beautiful formations! That is what I think of any time I have to run or walk in ballet class. The best examples of running/walking are found in the classical/romantic full act ballets. Basheva mentioned La Bayadere-full of great examples & Swan Lake too! Anytime I run or walk I conjure up such an image in my head!

Whenever I run or walk on the stage or in the studio - I always visualize what I am running to - or what I am running from. That gives me motivation and a goal.<P>Another interesting moment in the Fonteyn Nureyev film is watching Fonteyn descent the steps in the balcony scene. That is REALLY difficult to do in pointe shoes. <P>She also runs up the stairs. I tried it once, and almost fell down the stairs - LOL - luckily it was just a practice!