Leading Ladies

Five Things to Know About Margot Fonteyn

1.Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China. Her training in Shanghai was with George Goncharov, contributing to her continuing interest in Russian ballet.

2.Her grandad was Brazilian industrialist Antonio Fontes, whose name Margot adapted into the surname 'Fonteyn.’ She is English, Irish and Brazilian.

3.When the Royal Ballet toured the United States in 1949, Margot became an instant celebrity. Margot appeared on the front cover of Time magazine in 1949, she was made a dame in 1956, and chancellor of the University of Durham from 1981 to 1990.

4.She was one of five Women of Achievement selected for a set of British stamps issued in August 1996.

5.In her hometown of Reigate, a statue created by British sculptor Nathan David in 1980, stands in tribute to Fonteyn. Depicting her in her favourite role of "Ondine", the statue was commissioned by fans worldwide

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Leading Ladies

Five Things to Know About Katherine Dunham

1. Between her time of being a student at the University of Chicago and travel fellowships to the Caribbean, she received a bachelor’s degree, Ph. B, and bachelor of philsophy with her principal area of study in Social Anthropology in the Spring of 1936.

2. Known as an important dancer and activist during her lifetime, she is known as the “Matriarch and Queen Mother of Black Dance.”

3. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. 

4. In 1945, Dunham opened and directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theater near Times Square in New York City. Her dance company was provided with rent-free studio space for three years by an admirer and devoted patron; it had an initial enrollment of 350 students.

5. A few famous actors attended her school included James Dean, Gregory Peck, Shelley Winters, Sidney Poiter, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty practiced at her dance studio.

Leading Ladies

Five Things to Know About Victoria Woodhull

1. Born to an illiterate mother and petty criminal father, who was also one of ten children, Woodhull never really had a formal education. She started elementary school at eight years ago and went to school on and off for a few years before entirely dropping out of school.

2. She was the first woman to run for president in 1872.

3. With her sister Tennessee, Victoria was also one of the first female stockbrokers and the first to publish the Communist Manifesto in the United States.

4. She started the publication Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly, which at its height had national circulation of 20,000.

5. She was also a traveling clairvoyant. Always on the lookout for a good moneymaking scheme, her father put her and her sister, Tennessee to work telling fortunes and contacting spirits. They sold life elixirs and offered cures for diseases like cancer and asthma!

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Leading Ladies

Five Things You Should Know About Clarice Lispector

1.Fleeing a small war torn town in the Ukraine after WWI, Lispector’s family moved to Brazil, changed their name, lost her mother before she was ten and traveled extensively with her father and siblings.

2. While attending law school in Rio, she began publishing short stories and rose to fame for her first novel, Near the Wild Heart at the young age of 23.

3. Lonely and notoriously known for being a difficult to work with, Clarice became an revolutionary writer when in it came to perspective and emotional depth. She was a master at navigating the internal condition of her characters whether they were children, men and women. “The Disasters of Sofia” is an excellent example of the complex inner lives of children.

4. The reason you may have never come across her work in a bookstore is likely because of her disregard for conventional plotting. Her works range widely in shape and scope. But luckily you can get this great collection of her greatest works.

5. Lispector is described as the most important Jewish writer in the world since Kafka.

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Leading Ladies

Five Things You Must Know About Alice Coltrane

1. Alice pursued music and started performing in various clubs around her home town in Detroit until moving to Paris in the late 50s. She studied classical music and jazz while in Paris, working as an intermission pianist in clubs around the city.

2. After her divorce to with Pancho Hagood, she moved back to Detroit and continued to pursue playing Jazz as a professional and met her her future husband John Coltrane.

3. After John’s death, she became more spiritual, changed her name, open the Vedantic Center in Malibu and performed for devotional Vedic ceremonies. The Ashram was eventually destroyed in the Woolsey Fire last year.

4. After a 25 year break from major public performance she returned to the stage for a few US appearances and performed for the San Francisco Jazz Festival with her son.

5. Haven’t listened to any of her music, I suggest starting with Journey in Satchidananda, it’s beyond words incredible.

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