The Film of the Royal Ballet

Starring Margot Fonteyn, the great Prima Ballerina, in the principal female roles and Michael Somes in the lead male roles, this film showcases three of ballets’ most moving performances. Three tragic tales of doomed love filmed during performances of the Corps De Ballet of the Royal Opera House. Director of Ballet is Dame Ninette De Valois. Music is performed by the Covent Garden Orchestra. The first is Piotr Tchaikovsky’s brilliant “Swan Lake, Act II” which depicts the powerful meeting of the hunter, Prince Siegfried, and the prey, a graceful swan who transforms into a beautiful girl. The second performance is of Igor Stravinsky’s “The firebird”, the story of a travelling prince who captures a fantastical firebird who bargains her way to freedom by giving him one of her magic feathers. The third performance is of Hans Werner Henze’s “Ondine”, the story of Palemon, who is torn between his love of Berta and a water-sprite, Ondine.