2 3 Throwback Thursday and Rudolf Nureyev | Ballet Webb

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Throwback Thursday and Rudolf Nureyev


Throwback Thursday and Rudolf Nureyev

One of the most famous ballet dancers of the 20th century, Rudolf Nureyev was born in Siberia on March 17, 1938.  Due to the upheaval in the Soviet Union, Nureyev was unable to train in a major ballet center until he was seventeen.  Then he was accepted by the Leningrad Choreographic School associated with the Kirov.   He soon became a soloist with the company.

On June 16, 1961, on a tour to Paris, Nureyev defected, and was soon dancing with the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas.  But it was in 1962 that his most celebrated partnership began.  He danced with The Royal Ballet partnering Margot Fonteyn in Giselle, and a legend was born. 

They created magic onstage despite a considerable age difference, and Nureyev continued to dance with her even after he left the The Royal Ballet.  Their last performance together was in 1988, when Fonteyn was 68 years old.

During the 1970s, Nureyev appeared in several movies, and toured the U.S. in the musical The King and I.  In the 1980s, he took over the directorship of the Paris Opera Ballet where he choreographed and restaged such works as Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella.

Nureyev died on January 6, 1993.  His tomb features a mosaic of an oriental carpet.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Dance History Factoid #42:  
Rudolf Nureyev was one of the most famous ballet dancers of the 20th century.”

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