Nureyev: The Life

19 hrs. 49 min.

Language Russian

Author Ariane Dollfus

Narrator Irina Yerisanova

Description

Rudolf Nureyev needs no introduction. He was one of the most brilliant dancers of the 20th century—a man whose life became one divine encore, a star who left an unforgettable trace.

Rudolf Nureyev is a scandalous figure of the social chronicles, a bon vivant and lover of nightclubs, a player and a hedonist.

Rudolf Nureyev is difficult, nervous, capricious, irritable, intolerant, lonely, and vulnerable.

I first met Rudolf Nureyev in 1983, at my very first international competition in Paris, after the third round had ended. He came backstage and congratulated me on my victory. At that time, he was already a legend. I was then 20, and it was an astonishing feeling—to see Nureyev alive!

That evening there was a wonderful dinner for the competition participants on the Champs-Élysées. Almost all the winners were Russian and sat at a separate—“prize”—table; he joined us. We had a long conversation; Nureyev told many stories, and sometimes asked questions… And two months later, at the Kirov Theatre, the magazine “Saison de la danse” appeared, with a huge photograph of Rudolf on the cover, surrounded by us—Russian dancers—taken there, at this meeting. Let me remind you: at that time Nureyev was considered a dissident; talking to him was categorically forbidden—in an unofficial, of course, and perfectly natural way… After the appearance of this magazine in Russia and in the theatre, I didn’t travel anywhere for four years...

The last meeting with Nureyev took place in Canada, at the gala concert “Giving of the Stars.” In the theatre where we were supposed to perform, the day before he was playing a role in the production “The King and I.” That day I came to the artists’ entrance and passed him a note asking him to leave tickets for Russian performers for the evening performance. And he did—and we went.

The book title is extremely precise. I believe Rudolf Nureyev was the greatest, unsurpassed dancer of all time. He wasn’t a dancer of the 20th or 21st century—he was the one for all time. He did a great deal for the development of male dance in the West. When Rudolf stayed in France, European dance took another path—in imitation of Nureyev. He was a man infinitely devoted to his craft, endlessly worshiping ballet. For me, his personality has always been an example, and I believe he was and remains an unconditional leader in men’s dance.

For me, he is a very close person—almost a native one. The unyielding Nureyev.

100%