Rudolf Nureyev was born on March 17, 1938 in Irkutsk, Russia. Of Tatar origin, he spent his youth in Ufa, the capital of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He began ballet studies at the age of 11, and four years later he would drop out of school, supporting himself by dancing. At the age of 17, he managed to enter the Leningrad Ballet School, where Alexander Pushkin was his teacher. However, from a young age he showed that he was a “revolutionary” spirit. Although he was an excellent student, he refused to join the communist youth organization and often defied curfew regulations. In addition, he learned English privately.
After graduating in 1958, thanks to his great talent he became a soloist at the Leningrad Kirov Ballet. With the same ballet, he would tour dancing the lead roles. In June 1961, while on such a tour in Paris, Nureyev found the opportunity he had been looking for for so long. While at the airport, he managed to escape the attention of Soviet security by claiming asylum. He would later state that the rigidly organized Soviet ballet had limited his opportunities to dance often, but also to act in various roles.
For the first time outside the Soviet Union he danced with the Grand Ballet of the Marquis de Ceva, while a year later he made his American debut, appearing on television with the Chicago Opera Ballet. At the same time, he joined the Royal Ballet of London as a permanent visiting artist. Nureyev would become famous as Margot Fontaine’s partner. Dancing with her, he performed roles such as Albrecht in Giselle, Armand in Marguerite and Armand and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. But soon he started working as a choreographer. Among his most important works were a version of Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, performed in London in 1977, and Manfred performed by the Paris Opera Ballet in 1979. A year later, Nureyev staged The Nutcracker for the Ballet of Berlin and in 1981, his own version of Romeo and Juliet at La Scala in Milan, with Fontaine as Lady Capulet. His abilities would soon extend to contemporary repertoire, playing in works by Martha Graham, Mary Lewis and Paul Taylor.
The Russian dancer, however, would not be limited to dancing. He also moved to the silver screen, starring in a film version of Don Quixote, and participating as an actor in the films Valentino in 1977 and Exposed in 1983.
He became a citizen of Austria in 1982, while between 1983-1989 he was artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet. Nevertheless, his health would soon deteriorate from AIDS. He would die of complications related to the disease in 1993 at the age of just 54, leaving behind “a solidly founded new beginning”, as characteristically mentioned by Andreas Rikakis in his related article in “Kathimerini” of January 8, 1993.
He himself had never hidden his sexuality, while he had also published his autobiography. Nureyev with his life attitude but mainly thanks to his great talent had managed to become a popular celebrity. The interpretation of his roles with jumps and quick turns had made him stand out, significantly expanding the audience of ballet. “The example of Nureyev”, according to the same article of “Kathimerini”, “gave food to all schools of the world, whetted the public’s appetite for ‘another ballet please.’ Open the doors to the dancer-athlete […] brought… new, refreshing views to global dance teaching, dance technique and dance aesthetics”, making ballet “more global, more modern”.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
