Le Corsaire Diana and Acteon Paquita Raymonda (restaged) Romeo and Juliet (pas de deux) |
Soviet-born ballet dancer Rudolf
Nureyev was one of the most
celebrated dancers of the 20th
century and the first male superstar
of the ballet world since Vaslav
Nijinsky. He mesmerized audiences
with spectacular leaps and turns, but
it was his passionate temperament
and flamboyance onstage and off
that made him a phenomenon.
Nureyev, who was of Tatar descent,
was reared in Moscow and Ufa,
where he studied dance and
apprenticed with the Ufa Ballet. He
was an outstanding but rebellious
student at the Leningrad Ballet
School from 1955 to 1958, when he
bypassed the corps de ballet and
graduated directly to solo roles with
the Kirov Ballet. Three years later,
on June 17, 1961, while on tour
with the Kirov in Paris, he eluded
Soviet security guards and requested
asylum from officials at Le Bourget
airport. In the following months he
performed in Paris, New York City,
London, and Chicago, but he
reached a turning point in 1962
when he partnered the British Royal
Ballet's acclaimed ballerina Margot
Fonteyn, who was 19 years his
senior. Nureyev's fiery virtuosity
proved to be a perfect counterpoint
to Fonteyn's elegant maturity, and
their long partnership rejuvenated
her career and established his.
Despite his association with the
Royal Ballet as a "permanent guest
artist" for 20 years, Nureyev was not
formally affiliated with the dance
company. He worked as a guest
artist around the world, both as a
dancer and later as a choreographer.
In the 1970s Nureyev branched into
other performing arts. He appeared
on television and in motion pictures,
he also toured the U.S. as the King
of Siam in a revival of the Broadway
musical The King and I, and
he even tried his hand at
conducting. Although he became an
Austrian citizen in 1982, he lived
mainly in Paris, where he was
director and principal choreographer
of the Paris Opera Ballet. In 1989 he
danced in the Soviet Union for the
first time since his defection.
Nureyev made his last public
appearance in October 1992, taking
a bow at the Paris premiere of his
new production of La
Bayadere.
Nureyev died in 1993, in Paris,
France. |
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