Nureyev and Fonteyn Debut Ashton's Marguerite and Armand.

Rudolf Nureyev’s dazzling defection from the Soviet Union and the Kirov Ballet in Paris in 1961 brought a male dancer to the attention of the world whose like had not been seen since Vaslav Nijinsky danced for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in the 1910’s and 1920’s. Teaming up with Margot Fonteyn, the cool and serenely elegant dancer who was the epitome of the English style, Nureyev brought a new vitality to the ballet, became a multimedia megastar in the process, and gave this once limited-appeal art form a passion that translated into vastly increased popular involvement.