#tbt: Margot Fonteyn and The Royal Ballet Arrive Stateside in Style

To celebrate our 90th anniversary, we excavated some of our favorite hidden gems

from the DM Archives—images that capture a few of the moments in time we’ve documented over the decades.

Ninette de Valois, Margot Fonteyn, Moira Shearer, Frederick Ashton, Michael Somes and Robert Irving arrive in the U.S. Photo by Enell Inc., Courtesy DM Archives

In the days when Margot Fonteyn was a household name, The Royal Ballet toured to the United States on a regular basis, and it was always an event. In this shot, we have no shortage of ballet royalty arriving stateside: founding director Dame Ninette de Valois, Fonteyn, Moira Shearer (perhaps best known today for her film role in The Red Shoes), Sir Frederick Ashton, Michael Somes (Fonteyn’s frequent partner until Rudolf Nureyev’s arrival, and later assistant director under Ashton) and Robert Irving (conductor and music director). If only international travel were so glamorous today…