Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (Rudolf Khamitovich Nureyev; Tat. Rudolf Khamit uly Nureyev). Born on March 17, 1938 near Irkutsk - died on January 6, 1993 in Paris. Soviet, British and French ballet dancer and choreographer. One of the most famous dancers XX century.

Rudolf Nureyev was born between Irkutsk and Slyudyanka - on a train that was heading to Vladivostok.

Tatar by nationality.

Father - Khamit Fazleevich Nureyev (1903-1985), originally from the village of Asanovo, Sharipovsky volost, Ufa district, Ufa province (now Ufa district of the Republic of Bashkortostan). Having reached adulthood, he takes the first part of his father’s name Nur (ray, light) as his surname, and retains his surname as a patronymic and becomes Khamet Fazlievich Nuriev. Since 1922, he worked at the Milovka state farm, from where he was drafted into the Red Army in 1925 and ended up in Kazan, where he served as a Red Army soldier at the United Tatar-Bashkir Military School. At the end of his service, Nureyev Sr. remained in Kazan and in October 1927 entered a two-year course “Implementation Tatar language"at the TatTSIK, which he graduated in 1929 with a degree in accounting. In 1928 he joined the party.

Mother - Farida Agliullovna Nureyeva (Agliullova) (1907-1987), born in the village of Tatarskoye Tyugulbaevo, Kuznechikha volost, Kazan province (now Alkeevsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan).

Nuriev himself wrote in his autobiography that “on both sides our relatives are Tatars and Bashkirs.”

Soon after Rudolf's birth, his father is assigned to Moscow. With the beginning of the war, my father, with the rank of senior political instructor, went to the front in artillery unit. He went through the entire war, from participating in the defense of Moscow to Berlin. In April 1945, he participated in the crossing of the Oder River, for which he received gratitude from the command.

In 1941, Rudolf and his mother were evacuated to the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

As a child, he had to experience real poverty, which, however, forced him to achieve a comfortable existence with extreme persistence. Started dancing in kindergarten folklore ensemble in Ufa, he studied at the House of Culture with the St. Petersburg ballerina Anna Udaltsova, who was in exile there.

In 1955, despite the large age gap, he was admitted to the Leningrad Choreographic School and studied in the class of Alexander Pushkin. He lived at home with his teacher, since he could not get along at the boarding school - other students teased and called him names, considered him a hillbilly.

Contemporaries claimed that when Rudolf mastered various movements at the Vaganova school, it was clear that the guy had significant problems with technique. Moreover, Nureyev himself saw this, and it drove him crazy. He did not hesitate to show his rage in public and often ran away from the hall with tears in his eyes during rehearsals. But when everyone left, he returned and persistently practiced various steps alone until he achieved perfection. This is how the dancer was formed, about whom the great woman would later say: “Before Nureyev, they danced differently.” After all, men traditionally played ballet minor role, emphasizing the importance and professionalism of the fair sex. But Nureyev’s dance was so bright that it was simply impossible not to pay attention to it.

After graduating in 1958, thanks to prima ballerina Natalia Dudinskaya, he remained in Leningrad and was accepted into the Opera and Ballet Theater named after S.M. Kirov. He made his stage debut as Dudinskaya's partner in the ballet Laurencia, performing the role of Frondoso.

Flight of Rudolf Nureyev to the West

On June 16, 1961, while on tour in Paris, by decision of the KGB of the USSR, “for violating the regime of being abroad,” he was removed from further tours of the Kirov Theater troupe in London, but refused to return to the USSR, becoming a “defector” - the first among Soviet artists. In connection with this, he was convicted in the USSR of treason and sentenced in absentia to 7 years in prison.

Rudolph's first performances in the West took place in Paris, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées - he performed the role of the Blue Bird in the ballet "The Sleeping Beauty" in the troupe of the Marquis de Cuevas and was immediately a huge success. The French communists set themselves the goal of booing the artist - but not knowing ballet (Nureyev’s pas de deux was almost at the end of the performance), they made noise at almost every performance of other artists, thereby only heating up the atmosphere of the evening. On July 29, at the closing of the troupe's last Paris season, Nureyev performed main party in this performance, dancing in one act each with the troupe's prima ballerinas Nina Vyrubova, Rosella Hightower and Lian Deide.

France refused to grant Nureyev political refugee status, so the artist moved to Denmark, where he danced with the Royal Copenhagen Ballet. On November 2, 1961, he made his debut in London, performing a pas de deux from the ballet " Swan Lake" - soon after which he received an engagement with the Royal Ballet of Great Britain. For more than fifteen years, Nureyev was a star of the London Royal Ballet and was permanent partner English ballerina Margot Fonteyn. Also danced with Yvette Chauvire, Carla Fracci, Noella Pontois.

In 1964 he placed in Vienna Opera“Swan Lake”, performing the main role in a duet with Margot Fonteyn. At the end of the performance, the audience gave such a long ovation that the curtain was raised more than eighty times, which is a theater record.

Being the premier of the Viennese troupe, he received Austrian citizenship. He performed all over the world, working extremely intensively. He often gave 200 performances a year; in 1975, the number of his performances reached three hundred. Participated in classical and modern productions, acted a lot in films and on television, staged ballets and made his own editions of classical performances.

From 1983 to 1989, Nureyev was director ballet troupe Paris Opera, staged several performances there. He actively promoted young artists to the first positions, sometimes, as in the case of Sylvie Guillem, very conditionally observing the hierarchy levels accepted in Paris. Among the “Nureyev galaxy” are Elisabeth Platel, Monique Loudier, Isabelle Guerin, Manuel Legris, Charles Jude, Laurent Hilaire.

In 1987, he was able to obtain permission to enter the USSR to say goodbye to his dying mother - the visa was given for 72 hours, and the artist was limited in his ability to contact everyone he knew in his youth.

IN last years life, no longer able to dance, he began performing as a conductor.

In 1992 he conducted the Vienna Residenz Orchestra during its European tour. In the spring of the same year, at the invitation of director Tatarsky opera house Raufal Mukhametzyanov Rudolf Nureyev visited Kazan, where he conducted the ballets “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Nutcracker” (the main role was performed by Nadezhda Pavlova).

In 1983, the HIV virus was discovered in Nureyev's blood.

On January 6, 1993, at the age of 54, the dancer died from complications of AIDS. According to Nureyev's wishes, he was buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois near Paris. The grave is covered with a colored mosaic oriental carpet (the author of the sketch is the artist Ezio Frigerio).

Rudolf Nureyev's height: 173 centimeters.

Personal life of Rudolf Nureyev:

Rudolf Nureyev was a homosexual, although in his youth he also had heterosexual relationships.

After escaping to the West, he lived with the famous Danish homosexual dancer Erik Brun (1928-1986). Eric Brun was accepted into the company of the American Ballet Theater in 1949, and each of his performances was a real sensation. The aristocratic blond attracted the eyes of almost all women. Eric Brun had a fiancée - the famous beautiful ballerina Maria Tallchiff. But he never married her. Ironically, the two ballet geniuses were brought together by Maria Tallchiff. It was she who in 1961 asked Nuriev to accompany her to Bruno, with whom she performed the part in a ballet production in Copenhagen. During the trip, she called Eric and said light-heartedly: “There is someone here who would really like to meet you!”

Brun and Nureyev remained close for 25 years, until Brun's death in 1986.

Rudolf Nureyev was an anti-Semite and anti-communist, and for almost the entire period of his life in the West he was afraid of attack or kidnapping by the KGB. He associated the accident at the Vienna Opera, when miraculously no one was hurt, with this organization.

Earning a lot of money, he spent it randomly. He often lent large sums to little-known people and never checked whether the debt was returned to him. He bought luxury real estate in Europe and America, which required constant tax payments and other expenses, but practically did not live in most of his houses.

To manage his financial affairs, he registered the Ballet Promotion Foundation in Liechtenstein in 1975, with headquarters in Zurich.

He owned villas in La Turbie and on the island of Saint Barthelemy (France), an estate in Virginia and apartments in London and New York (Jacqueline Kennedy helped furnish the dancer with a six-room apartment in the Dakota Building).

In 1979, he acquired from the heirs of Leonide Massine Li Galli, an archipelago of three islands located near Positano. On Gallo Lungo, the largest of them, there were residential villas with a swimming pool and ballet halls, built by Massine in the ruins of a Saracen tower. Nureyev was actively involved in the design of the villas and the improvement of the island as a whole, investing a lot of money here, since there was no water or electricity, and everything needed could be delivered either by sea or by helicopter.

In Paris, he lived in a two-level apartment on the Quai Voltaire, house number 23. The dancer’s dream was to bring his mother here, which never happened. After his death, fans hoped that a museum would be built here, but the Nureyev Foundation almost immediately organized the sale of his property under the hammer at Christie's auctions. The first planned auctions in London and New York were canceled, and the Paris apartment was sealed at the protest of Nureyev's sister Roses and her daughter Guzel, who started litigation with the Foundation, in their opinion, misinterpreting the will in its favor. However, the auction took place in 1995 - in January in New York, where American property was sold ($7.9 million was raised) and in November in London, where Parisian items were sold (the main lot, a painting by Theodore Gericault, remained not sold).

According to the will, the European property was managed by the Ballet Promotion Foundation, registered by Nureyev in Liechtenstein in 1975, while the American property was managed by the newly created Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation, headquartered in Chicago. A small part of Nureyev's legacy - suits, documents and personal belongings - was stored in National Library France and the Carnavalet Museum. In 2013, on the initiative of Charles Jude and Thierry Fouquet, members of the board of directors of the Nureyev Foundation, the remaining items were exhibited in three halls National Center stage costume in Moulins (exhibition design - Ezio Frigerio).

Filmography of Rudolf Nureyev:

1958 - Soulful flight (documentary)
1977 - Valentino - Rudolph Valentino
1983 - In plain sight (Exposed)
1991 - Rudolf Nureyev as he is (documentary)

Repertoire of Rudolf Nureyev:

"Laurencia" - Frondoso
"Swan Lake" - Prince Siegfried, Rothbart
"The Nutcracker" - Drosselmeyer, Prince
"Sleeping Beauty" - Blue Bird, Prince Florimund (Désiré)
“Margarita and Arman” - Arman
"La Bayadère" - Solor
"Raymonda" - four gentlemen, Jean de Brien
"Giselle" - Count Albert
"Don Quixote" - Basil
"Corsair" - slave
"Romeo and Juliet" - Romeo, Mercutio
"La Sylphide" - James
"Petrushka" - Parsley
"The Vision of the Rose" - The Vision of the Rose
"Scheherazade" - The Golden Slave
"Afternoon of a Faun" - Faun
"Apollo Musagete" - Apollo
"Youth and Death" - Youth
"Prodigal son"
"Phaedra"
"Lost heaven"
"La Sylphides" - Youth
"Hamlet" - Hamlet
"Cinderella" - Producer
"Sideshow"
"Lunar Pierrot" - Pierrot
"Lucifer" - Lucifer
“Idiot” - Prince Myshkin
"Halo"
"Songs of the Wandering Apprentice"
"Sacred spring"
"The Moor's Pavane" - Othello
"Dark House"
"Lesson"
"Night Journey" - Oedipus
"The Scarlet Letter" - Reverend Dimmesdale

Productions by Rudolf Nureyev:

1964 - “Raymonda”
1964 - “Swan Lake”, Vienna Opera
1966 - “Don Quixote”
1966 - “Sleeping Beauty”
1966 - “Tancred”
1967 - “The Nutcracker”
1977 - “Romeo and Juliet”
1979 - “Manfred”
1982 - “Storm”
1985 - “Washington Square”
1986 - Bach Suite
1988 - “Cinderella”, Paris Opera
1992 - “La Bayadère”, Paris Opera

Few of them ballet stars managed to play out his life like Rudolf Nureyev. There is a little bit of different genres here - detective, farce, melodrama, tragedy. He was called the Genghis Khan of ballet, the first gay on the planet, the sexiest dancer of the 20th century. Indeed, sex meant a lot to this frantic Tatar. But besides sex, there was also love, not only with a man named Eric Brune, but also with a woman, the great Margot Fonteyn... Nureyev had affairs with Freddie Mercury, Yves Saint Laurent and Elton John; rumor wrote down Jean Marais and many others as his lovers... But Nuriev’s strongest, passionate and painful love has always been Eric Brun - a huge Dane of unearthly beauty, world-famous famous dancer, considered one of the most outstanding dancers of the 20th century and the most refined Albert ever to dance in Giselle. Their romance lasted until Eric's death... SO COLD IT BURNS It is difficult to say who was Nureyev’s first male lover, but the fact that his first and greatest love became the outstanding Danish dancer Erik Brun, undoubtedly. Moreover, Nuriev first fell in love with his dance, and then with him. Eric was Nureyev's ideal. He was 10 years older than him, tall and handsome, like a god. From birth, he possessed those qualities that Nureyev was completely devoid of: calm, restraint, tact. And most importantly, he could do what Nureyev could not. If it were not for Rudik, Eric Brun may never have recognized the hidden homosexual in himself. Eric had a fiancée, the famous beautiful ballerina Maria Tallchiff, whose father was an Indian. Maria and Eric Their first acquaintance with Rudik happened in 1960, when Eric Brun and Maria Tallchiff came on tour with the American Ballet Theater to the USSR. Nureyev was burning with impatience to see the famous Dane, but it so happened that twenty-two-year-old Rudolf went on tour to Germany, and when he returned, the whole ballet Leningrad was talking only about Brun. Intrigued, Rudolf obtained amateur footage of Brun, taken by someone in Leningrad, and experienced a shock. “It became a sensation for me,” he recalled a few years later. “Brun is the only dancer who managed to amaze me. Someone called him too cold. He really is so cold that it burns.” MEXICAN PASSIONS A year later, Nuriev burned himself on this ice, not on screen, but in life. By that time Rudolf had escaped from iron embrace The countries of the Soviets and took the first steps towards world triumphs. Fate brought him together with Maria Tallchiff, who had recently experienced a breakdown in a stormy love relationship with Brun, whom she said she loved." more life"Parting with the Dane, she promised to take revenge on him and find a new partner for herself. Very soon she meets a young and hot Tatar, with whom the thirty-six-year-old ballerina instantly falls in love. And invites him to go with her to Copenhagen, where her performances with Brun are planned. By On the way, Tallchiff calls Brun and happily announces: “There’s someone here who wants to meet you. His name is Rudolf Nureyev,” and hands the phone to Nureyev. This is how they met thanks to Tolchiff, who will soon greatly regret this. Eric and Carla Fracci THE DANISH PRINCE AND THE TATAR TERRORIST“The day was drawing to a close, the room was dark,” Brun recalled years later about their first meeting, which took place at the Angleterre Hotel, where Rudolf and Tallchiff were staying. “I greeted Maria, next to whom was this young dancer, casually dressed in a sweater and slacks. I sat down and looked at him more closely and saw that he was quite attractive. He had a certain style, a certain class. It wasn't natural elegance, but it made an impression. He didn't talk too much, maybe because ", that he still didn't speak English very well. The situation was awkward because of my relationship with Maria. She and I tried to cover it up by laughing too much and unnaturally. Much later, Rudik said that he hated the sound of my laughter." After that, they saw each other only in the studio during classes. Nuriev was delighted with Brun's impeccable long-legged figure, with his infallible technique, with his appearance reminiscent of a noble prince. Eric and Rudik One day during a break, Nureyev conspiratorially whispered to Brun that he needed to talk. He wanted to have lunch with Brun alone, without Maria. But when Nureyev told her about his plans for the dinner, she threw a fit, running out of the wardrobe room screaming. Nureyev rushed after her, followed by Brun. At that moment, after the morning class, the whole troupe came out and watched with interest as Nureyev, Brun and Tallchief chased each other around the theater.
Eric, Rudy and Maria But no matter how angry Maria was and no matter how many hysterics she threw, between the frantic Tatar and the cold Danish prince A powerful attraction had already arisen, which at that moment no one could destroy. Even Brun's domineering mother, who had enormous influence on her son. SEPARATE BEDROOMS FOR DECORITY Ellen Brun, as soon as Rudolf moved to live in their cozy house in the Copenhagen suburb of Gentofte, immediately disliked Rudolf. She saw him as a threat to her son's respectability as well as her rival for his love. And although, for the sake of decency, Rudolph and Eric occupied separate bedrooms, Ellen guessed about the nature of their relationship. Like many others who saw them together. These two immediately caught the eye, people turned after them, so beautiful and so different.
Brun, a tall and aristocratic blond, resembling in appearance greek god, with a high forehead, a regular, sharply outlined profile, delicate facial features, and sad gray-blue eyes, was sheer sophistication. He attracted the eyes of almost all women... Rudolf, with burning eyes, flowing hair, wild temperament and sharp cheekbones, resembled an erupting volcano. Their attitudes towards sex were also very different. Eric both craved and feared intimacy. Secretive, cautious, he did not allow a single emotion to appear, and besides, he was not ready for the sexual frenzy that Nureyev showed. Rudolph always wanted sex, twenty-four hours a day. And he considered it natural, and Eric quickly got tired of this carousel. Therefore, their romance initially developed frantically and violently. One advanced, the other ran away. Rudolph, when it seemed to him that something was wrong in their relationship, could scream in rage and throw things around the apartment, and Eric, shocked by this outburst of emotions, would run away from home. And then Rudolph rushed after him in search of his lover. A few years later, Brun would liken their meeting to the collision and explosion of two comets. (Fragment from the memoirs of the famous Bulgarian ballerina Sonya Arova, Eric’s close friend) If Brun was the only dancer whom Rudik recognized as his equal, he was also the only one whom he allowed to exercise power over him. “Teach me this,” he always told Eric. “If Eric performed a role brilliantly, Rudik did not rest until he began to perform the same role equally brilliantly,” says Sonya. “For him, this was the greatest incentive for a very long time.” Equally bewitched by him, Brun helped him in every possible way, passing on all his knowledge, even when Nureyev threatened to eclipse him. Their relationship was turbulent and endlessly intense from the very beginning. “Pure Strindberg,” Brun assessed them a few years later. “Rudolph was overwhelmed with feelings for Eric,” says Arova, “and Eric didn’t know how to deal with him. Rudolph was wearing him out.” In addition, Rudik was constantly and painfully jealous of Eric for women, because Eric, unlike Rudik, was bisexual, not gay, and he often felt attracted to some girls. Violette Verdi notes: "Rudy was so strong, so new, so hungry after the Russian desert. He just wanted what he wanted." He tried with all his might to subjugate the soft, delicate Eric. “Their relationship was never easy,” concludes Arova. “Erik was in complete control, and Rudolph was subject to his mood. Eric tried to make him understand all sorts of things, and when it didn’t work, he got upset, and they had quarrels. Rudolph wanted a lot.” from Eric. He always demanded something from him, and Eric said: “But I give everything I can, and after that I feel squeezed out.” Brun soon became convinced that Nureyev wanted more from him than he could give Close friends knew a warm, generous Brun with a lively, dry sense of humor, but one says he could “transform in a second, becoming cold and extremely hostile” when he sensed someone was getting too close to him." EATS BOYS LIKE PANCAKES Having escaped from the taboos and prohibitions of his socialist homeland, Nureyev longed to taste the sexual paradise that he found in the West. There were no complexes or remorse here: having seen something he liked, Nureyev had to get it. His desires came first, and he satisfied them under any circumstances, day and night, on the streets, in bars, gay saunas. Sailors, truck drivers, merchants, and prostitutes were his constant targets. By the way, appearance didn’t really matter here, what was important was size and quantity. He liked it to be a lot. There are a lot of anecdotes telling about Nureyev's sexual excess. Here are a few. One day during dinner at Rudolf's London house, where respectable friends of the artist had gathered, his housekeeper reported that two young men were standing at the door. A few days ago, Rudolf made a date with them and apparently forgot about it. Rudolph jumped up from his chair and ran out of the dining room. The guests, hearing him and his visitors go upstairs, fell silent, and an awkward pause arose. Here Rudolf's secretary, laughing, exclaimed: “It’s always like this with him! He eats them like pancakes!” Soon the front door slammed, and Rudolph, flushed, with a mischievous and pleased sparkle in his eyes, returned to the table. “This is very tasty,” he said ambiguously as his cook served him the dish. Once, coming out of the service entrance of the Paris Opera and seeing a crowd of fans, Rudolph exclaimed: “Where are the boys?” While dancing in Giselle, Nureyev amazed one of the artists with his exhausted appearance. "What's wrong with you?" - the dancer asked him. “I was very tired, I fucked all night and all morning, until the rehearsal. I had absolutely no strength left.” “Rudolph,” the artist asked, “don’t you never have enough sex?” - “No. Besides, I fucked myself at night, and me in the morning.” A NIGHTMARE ON BOARD A PLANE At the same time, Rudolf believed that sex was one thing, but intimacy was something completely different. But for Eric it was the same thing. He was frightened by random meetings and anonymous sex; he could not understand his friend’s promiscuity, which he considered a betrayal. He was horrified by Rudolph's exorbitant physical hunger for lovers. Eric was very picky and could not get used to this promiscuity. This boiling cocktail of love, jealousy, resentment, and irritation was mixed with another component - Brun's alcoholism. It was his dark side, which opened after drinking, which happened alarmingly often in the 60s. “Alcoholism was one of Eric’s painful secrets,” says Violette Verdi. “When drunk, he had attacks of cruelty, he became very sarcastic, he liked to cause pain.” Upset by constant rumors about Rudolf's attempts to frame him, Brun once accused him of coming from Russia only to kill him. He knew he had said a terrible thing, but he felt some need to say it. “Hearing this, Rudik was so upset that he began to cry,” recalls Brun. “He said: “How can you be so evil?” While sometimes cruel, Brun was also unusually generous; many dancers owe their careers to his leadership, which he always acknowledged. Rudolf himself. But he continued his love pursuit of Eric, who was so tired of the Tatar tiger that he ran from him to the ends of the earth. When Eric went on tour to Australia, Rudolph called him almost every day from London, wondering why he was not very kind to him on the phone. “Maybe it’s worth calling once or twice a week?” Rudolph’s friends advised. “Perhaps Eric wants to be alone.” But Rudolph did not understand this, and finally decided to fly to him in Sydney. During the flight, Rudolf experienced one of the most severe shocks. He never forgot that the KGB was looking for him all over the world in order to kidnap him and return him to his socialist homeland. On the way to Sydney this nightmare almost happened. During a plane stop at Cairo airport, the pilot suddenly asked the passengers to get off the plane, explaining this in some way. technical problems. Nureyev turned cold internally, feeling the trap. He did not come out, convulsively squeezing himself into a chair. When a flight attendant approached him to take him out, he begged for help, claiming that he was afraid to leave the plane. Then the flight attendant, seeing two men approaching the plane through the window, quickly took Nureyev to the toilet. “I’ll tell them it doesn’t work,” she promised. Nureyev remained there while KGB officers searched the plane and knocked on the toilet door. “I looked in the mirror and saw myself turning gray,” he later recalled. LADY OF THE HEART When Nureyev met Eric in Copenhagen in 1961, the famous English ballerina Margot Fonteyn also came into his life. Here, as in the case of Brun, the telephone call also played a role. One day Rudolf came to visit his teacher Vera Volkova, and the phone rang. Volkova picked up the phone and immediately handed it to Nureyev: “This is you, from London.” - "From London?" - Rudolf was surprised. He didn't know anyone in London. “This is Margot Fonteyn speaking,” said the voice on the phone. “Would you like to dance at my gala concert?” In the history of ballet there is no more elegant, courageous and wise ballerina than Fonteyn. A light smile, a hot sparkle in her eyes, temperament, as well as a steel back and an iron will - this is Margot. Her husband, Roberto Tito de Arias, was from a family of prominent Panamanian politicians and served as Panama's ambassador to Great Britain at the time. After Rudolph performed at her gala concert, the management of Covent Garden invited Fontaine to dance Giselle with him. Margot was doubtful at first. She first performed in Giselle in 1937, a year before Nureyev was born, and by the time of his escape from the USSR she had already been a star for fifteen years. Wouldn't she, a forty-two-year-old prima, look funny next to a twenty-four-year-old young tiger? But finally she agreed and won. Their performance sent the crowd into a frenzy. Nureyev's sensual fervor was the perfect contrast to Fonteyn's expressive purity. They merged in a single dance impulse, and it seemed that their energy and musicality had the same source. When the curtain closed, Fontaine and Nureyev were called to bows twenty-three times. To the roar of applause, Fontaine pulled out a red rose on a long stem from the bouquet and presented it to Nureyev; he, touched by this, fell to his knee, grabbed her hand and began to shower her with kisses. The audience fainted from this spectacle.
But that evening was not a complete triumph for Nureyev. Although Brun rehearsed the role of Albert with him, he left the theater, tormented by jealousy. “I ran after him, and the fans ran after me. It was very unpleasant,” Rudolf later recalled. WHITE CAMELLIA TREE“God! I’ve never done half the things I do now in dance,” Fontaine admitted with surprise, speaking about Nureyev’s influence on her. And Rudolph admitted: “If I had not found Margot, I would have been lost.”
Soon, choreographer Frederick Ashton created for them the ballet “Margarita and Armand” based on “Lady of the Camellias” by Dumas the Son to the music of Liszt’s piano Sonata in B minor. This ballet became the most long-awaited event of the 1963 season and gave rise to a lot of rumors and gossip on the topic: were Rudolf and Margot lovers in life? Some categorically claim that yes, others just as zealously reject it. There are those who say that Fontaine carried Nureyev's child, but lost it due to miscarriage. But this is more of a fantasy, since Margot could not have children by that time. Rudolf and Margot themselves talk about their relationship like this: “When we were on stage, our bodies, our hands joined in the dance so harmoniously that I think nothing like this will ever happen again,” recalls Nureyev. “She was mine.” best friend, my confidant, a person who wished me only the best." "A strange attraction arose between us for each other, which we were never able to explain rationally," Fontaine admits, "and which in some sense resembled the deepest affection and love, considering that love is so diverse in its manifestations. On the day of the premiere of Marguerite and Armand, Rudolf brought me a small white camellia tree - it was intended to symbolize the simplicity of our relationships in the terrible world around us."
DID NOT HAPPEN But in the relationship with Eric there was no such simplicity. Brun, tired of Rudolf's disorderliness, complained to his friends: "I can't be with him, we're ruining each other." But Rudolph continued to pursue Eric. While performing in Copenhagen in 1968, Rudolf met choreographer Glen Tetley. Tetley was invited to dinner by Brun, who warned him not to say anything about this invitation to Rudolf. But Nureyev, as if guessing where the choreographer was going, forced himself on him as a companion. Tetley refused, but Rudolph climbed into his car. When the car approached country house Erica in Gentofte, a smiling Brun came out to meet the car. But, seeing Rudolf, he ran into the house, disappeared upstairs and did not appear all evening. "I'm sure Rudolph was very upset," recalls Tetley, "but he never made it clear." And Nuriev told his friends that he would forever connect his life with Eric if he allowed him to do so. To which Eric replied: “Rudolph declared me a model of freedom and independence - I always did what I wanted. But what happened between us in the first years - explosions, collisions - it could not last long. If Rudolph wanted everything was different, well, I'm very sorry."
Soon their stormy love story finally collapsed when Rudolph found out that in Toronto (where Eric then led National Ballet Canada) Eric began an affair with one of his students, who eventually gave birth to a daughter from him. But although everything was over with the love relationship between them, the spiritual connection lasted until the end of their lives, surviving all the betrayals, conflicts, and separations. “My Danish friend Erik Brun helped me more than I can express,” Nureyev said in an interview. “I need him more than anyone.”
When Brun was dying of lung cancer in 1986, Nuriev, abandoning everything, came to him. They talked until late, but when Rudolph returned to him the next morning, Eric could no longer talk, but only followed Rudolph with his eyes. Rudolph took Eric's death seriously and was never able to recover from this blow. Together with Eric, youthful recklessness and ardent carelessness left his life. He was left alone with himself, advancing old age and fatal disease. And although Nureyev somehow passionately said: “What is this AIDS to me? I’m a Tatar, I’ll fuck him, and not he me,” Rudolf understood that he was running out of time. I SHOULD HAVE MARRIED HER Five years after Eric's death, Rudolph said goodbye to the lady of his heart, Margot Fonteyn. Before this, Margot experienced a terrible tragedy. In Panama, the car in which her husband was was shot up. Two bullets got stuck in the chest, another pierced the lung, and the fourth hit the back of the neck, near the spine. According to one version, it was a political order, according to another, forty-seven-year-old Arias was shot by his party colleague for sleeping with his wife. Paralyzed, chained to wheelchair Arias became Margot's constant concern. She did not allow him to turn into a body in a stroller, so she took him with her on tours, to yachts with friends. Margot persistently earned her living and medical care for her sick husband by dancing. “I will dance as long as people come to see me,” she told reporters. And she dances, and when she returns home in the evening after the performance, before eating, she prepares food for her husband and feeds him, as small child, from a spoon. By the way, last time"Margarita and Armand" Margot and Rudolf danced in Manila in August 1977. And then she retired with Arias to a farm in Panama, where she was dying of ovarian cancer. Only Rudolf, who anonymously paid her medical bills, knew about this. In 1989, Margot buried Tito Arias, underwent three operations and was almost bedridden: “I’m used to touring theaters, but now I’m touring hospitals,” Fontaine joked. Margot died on February 21, 1991, twenty-nine years to the day since she and Rudolph first danced in Giselle. After that, he was her partner almost 700 times. They say that upon learning of her death, he exclaimed bitterly: “I should have married her.” But it seems that this was just a phrase from a man who knew that he himself was dying of AIDS. Rudolph outlived Margot by two years. He died on January 6, 1993, the day before Orthodox Christmas, he was fifty-four years old. Christmas Eve descended to earth without him. Updated 31/08/10 23:05: A short video about Eric and Rudik :)

Who is woven from contradictory facts, rumors and unimaginable adventures, and today, after his death, is considered the brightest star of world ballet.

Childhood

Rudolf was the fourth child in the family of military political instructor Khamet Nuriev. He was born on a train on March 17, 1938, when his mother, in the last month of pregnancy, collected her children and meager luggage and followed her husband to Vladivostok. Khamet Nureyev was in seventh heaven when he saw a boy in Farida’s arms, because before that his wife had only given him daughters, and he decided to name him Rudolf.

The family settled in Vladivostok, but after a year and a half, Khamet received a new assignment - to Moscow. In the capital they were provided with a small wooden house. The Nureyevs lived poorly, and yet life gradually began to improve. All plans and ideas were ruined by the war. In 1941, my father was one of the first to be called up to the front. The family remained in Moscow, but under pressure from Hitler, it was decided to evacuate the military families - first to Chelyabinsk, then to the suburb of Ufa, the village of Shchuchye. Cold, hunger and constant darkness - this is how the great dancer remembered his childhood years in Ufa. Rudolph grew up as a nervous and whiny child, all due to the struggle for a piece of bread and terrible living conditions.

At the age of five, after watching the ballet “The Song of the Cranes,” Rudolf told his mother that he wanted to dance. Farida, without hesitation, sent her son to a dance club in kindergarten. The boy willingly studied, their circle performed in front of the wounded. Everyone who saw Rudolf dancing exclaimed that the child had enormous talent.

Youth

In 1945, the father returned from the front; for the children he was a stranger. With his return, the family’s life began to improve little by little; they were given a warm room in a communal apartment. The father did not share his son's hobby. I didn’t even want to hear about further training in choreography. Hamet dreamed that his son would become an engineer.

At the age of ten, Rudolf was invited to a dance club at the house of pioneers. Radik's first teacher was Anna Ivanovna Udaltsova, who had previously danced in Diaghilev's corps de ballet. The ballerina immediately noted the remarkable talent of her student and recommended that he go to Leningrad for further training in classical dance. Rudolf Nureyev, whose biography has become public today, received these parting words with excitement.

In 1955, fate presented him with a huge gift. A festival took place in Moscow Bashkir art. His dance troupe ballet theater was about to conquer the capital with the production of “The Crane Song,” but the soloist fell ill. Nuriev proposed his candidacy. He was approved, although the young dancer did not know his part. In a short time he learned it and ruined his health. Having not fully recovered from the injury, he nevertheless appeared on the stage of the capital’s theater and captivated the audience. From that moment on, his teachers from Ufa realized that Russian ballet had been replenished with a new “frantic Tatar”.

After a successful performance, Nuriev decided to enroll in choreographic studio capital, but there was no hostel there. Fate brought him to Leningrad. Here he entered the choreographic school at the age of seventeen.

After finishing his education, Rudik went to a competition in the capital with his partner Alla Sizova. They performed brilliantly, but the commission was left with an indelible impression by the solo part of the young talent. Rudolf Nureyev, whose dancing was disconcerting, wild and barbaric, captivated critics. From the point of view of novelty, his style of dancing was extraordinary, but technically it was absurd. For "Laurencia" he and his partner received gold at the competition; Nuriev refused to accept the award. Upon arrival in Leningrad, he danced “Gayane” with his partner Ninel Kurgapkina. This was followed by productions such as The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Life at the Mariinsky Theater was in full swing, and Rudolf was in full swing along with it.

Character of a great dancer

Despite his talent and dedication on stage, the talented young man was not loved behind the scenes, and it was all due to his arrogant character. The life of Rudolf Nureyev from childhood was not sweet; hunger, cold, poverty, echoes of war - this vulnerable boy had to endure a lot.

In more mature age Rudolph, seeing his superiority over his peers, often forgot the rules of basic education. He could be rude to his partner, shunned collective rules, and ignored discipline. He considered many of his colleagues to be mediocrities and told them about this in a harsh manner.

In his more mature years, when Rudolph became a star of the first magnitude, despite huge fees, he refused to pay in restaurants and staged wild antics and hysterics in the theater. The public idolized him, but people who knew him a little closer found him repulsive and rude.

"Leap of Freedom"

Russian ballet experienced its heyday in the post-war period, all thanks to its bright and talented artists. Nureyev always stood out from the crowd. Fans went to the Kirov Theater specifically “to see Nuriev.” The performances “Giselle or the Wilis”, “The Nutcracker”, and “Swan Lake” were especially popular among the audience.

In the late 50s, Rudolf Nureyev, whose biography is full of extraordinary gifts from fate, danced in nine performances at the Mariinsky Theater. The main troupe went on tour, and then he, a bright Tatar youth, appeared in all his glory. In 1958, he was offered to become a partner of the leading prima of the theater, Natalya Dudinskaya. Their first joint performance was Don Quixote. Then came the unforgettable “La Bayadère,” with which Nureyev conquered Paris.

In 1961 Mariinskii Opera House toured Europe. First on the list was Paris. Rudolf Nureyev, whose work was very colorful, was the highlight among ballet connoisseurs and lovers that everyone wanted to “taste.” The Parisian public went into ecstasy from “La Bayadère” and Nureyev’s dance. The young balleron immediately found fellow fans in high society Paris. He went with them to the theater, cinema and restaurants. Such behavior was categorically unacceptable for a Russian person of the “Khrushchev” era. After Paris, London was on schedule, but the theater management was informed that Nureyev was flying home.

Death of Rudolf Nureyev

The passing of the great dancer was a real tragedy for his fans. Official reason His death is said to be a problem with the heart, but in reality this is not the case. Like many talented people of the last century, Rudolf Nureyev, whose biography, like ballet, was filled with ups and downs, died of AIDS. This happened in one of the clinics in Paris on January 6, 1993. For a long time the great dancer did not admit that he had AIDS and refused to be examined. Some blame his rampant sexual dalliances.

Somebody's talking about rock talented people 60s. Sex, drugs, rock and roll and homosexuality were in the crosshairs of the powers that be. Some researchers claim that many famous gay men were "deliberately" struck by the new

Rudolf Nureyev is a legend of Russian and world ballet, the most outstanding dancer of the last century.

Childhood

Rudolf Nuriev was born on March 17, 1938 in the family of Farida and Khamet Nuriev. His father was a political commissar in the Red Army. In all biographies, place of birth future star The scene is recorded in Irkutsk, and the actual place of his birth is the train in which the pregnant Farida was traveling after her husband to Vladivostok. Hamet was very happy about the birth of his son and named him Rudolf. Before this, three girls were born in the family - Rosa, Rozida and Lydia.

The family lived in Vladivostok for a year and a half, until the father was transferred to a new duty station, in Moscow. Here they settle in a small wooden house, live like everyone else, not richly. Life is gradually getting better, but all the plans and ideas failed to come true - the war began. The father goes to the front in the front row. The family remained in Moscow, but was soon evacuated along with other military families. They ended up in Chelyabinsk, and then ended up in the village of Shchuchye, not far from Ufa. Rudolph remembers the war years with difficulty; nothing remains in his memory except cold, hunger and constant darkness. The boy was nervous and often cried, probably because he had to fight for food and survive in terrible conditions.

When he was 5 years old, he saw ballet for the first time. It was "Crane Song". Little Rudolph firmly decides to dance. Farida did not hesitate for a long time and allowed her son to study at dance club kindergarten. The boy studied with great enthusiasm; the wounded soldiers really liked the performance of their circle. At the sight of the little dancing boy, everyone was delighted and amazed at his enormous talent.

Youth years

After the Victory in 1945, the father returns, but the children have forgotten how to see in him loved one. They got a room in a communal apartment, which was warm and bright, and life gradually began to improve. The father did not like his son’s occupation; in the future he saw him as an engineer.

When the boy was 10 years old, he began to study in the dance club of the Pioneer House. His first teacher was A.I. Udaltsova, she immediately recognized the talent in the child and advised him to continue his dance studies in Leningrad.

In 1955, a young man receives an unexpected gift from fate. The Bashkortostan Art Festival has opened in Moscow. His dance troupe was supposed to perform the ballet “The Song of the Crane,” but the soloist suddenly fell ill. And young Rudolf offers his services, even though he doesn’t know the party at all. His candidacy is approved, but the guy has to learn the entire game in a short time. He was able to do this, but his health was compromised. There was no time to recover, a young dancer with an injury goes on stage and conquers the audience. It was at this moment that it became clear to his teachers that a “fierce Tatar” had appeared in Russian ballet.

After this fateful performance, Rudolf decided to enter the capital's choreography studio, but they did not provide hostel accommodation for nonresidents. So he ends up in Leningrad and in 1955 he enters the Leningrad Choreographic School. He did not know that children begin to study at the age of 12 and his classmates have gone far ahead in terms of mastery. They make fun of him, he finds it difficult to get along with other students. Further residence in the hostel becomes impossible. He is saved by his mentor, A. Pushkin, who offered to live with his family.

In 1958, Rudolf graduated from the choreography school and became a member of the troupe of the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater in Leningrad. The prima ballerina of this theater N. Dudinskaya insisted on this invitation.

Life in ballet

First professional performance artist took place immediately after graduation. He took part in a competition held in Moscow. His partner was A. Sizova. The duo's performance was brilliant; the commission was delighted with the solo part of the young talent. He was distinguished by his extraordinary style of dancing; no one had ever seen such a technique before. The ballet "Laurencia" brought them gold in this competition, but Rudolf refused to accept the award. Upon returning to Leningrad, he dances “Gayane”, but with another partner - N. Kurgapkina. After that there was “Sleeping Beauty”, “Swan Lake”. The Mariinsky Theater was literally boiling, and Nuriev was at the epicenter of this boiling.

He gets gold medal, conquering the World Festival of Youth and Students, which was held in Vienna, with her dance. After three years of work in the theater, Rudolf takes an important place in the troupe and becomes the hope of the entire theater. Then there were triumphant performances in Bulgaria, East Germany, and Egypt. After this, Nureyev easily receives a visa to travel to France. And the dancer went to conquer the Paris Opera. But he managed to perform in France only a few times; by order of the KGB, he was removed from the repertoire of performances and had to go home to Soviet Union.

The official version of the reason for this decision is a violation of the regime while staying abroad. But most likely the reason was the artist’s unconventional orientation. Rudolf did not comply, asked for political asylum in France and never returned to the Soviet Union, where prison awaited him. Quite a long time passed, and Rudolf was allowed to enter the Union, but it was short-term. The dancer was only able to come for 3 days to bury his mother.

Rudolf Nureyev becomes a member of the Marquis de Cuevas Ballet troupe, but after 6 months he is forced to leave France - they refused to grant him political asylum. The talented dancer was happily accepted in the UK; he settled in London and performed a duet with famous ballerina Margot Fonteyn. Their acquaintance occurred in 1961, when Margot was 40 years old and was about to leave the stage. She stayed, and the duo existed for 15 long years. Their parts in Giselle were applauded by the English and American public. Their friendship lasted a lifetime, and ended only after Margot's death.

Rudolf Nureyev performed in different countries, worked a lot and fruitfully. In the 60s he had up to two hundred concerts a year, after 1975 he began to give 300 concerts, i.e. worked almost every day.

Dancer character

Undoubtedly, Rudolf was talented and selfless on stage, but in Everyday life he was not very well liked. He was arrogant and arrogant. The boy's childhood was not easy, this also left an imprint on his fate.

Feeling his superiority over others, he became uncontrollable - he was rude to his partners, ignored the rules of behavior in the team and violated discipline. He could tell a colleague that she was untalented, and sharply, without choosing any expressions.

Having become more mature and having risen to an unattainable height, with his sky-high fees, he did not pay the bill in a restaurant, became hysterical in the theater, and annoyed everyone with his wild antics. The audience was ready to carry their idol in their arms, but those who were closely acquainted with him considered him a disgusting rude man.

Acting and conducting career

His first film role was back in the USSR. The film “Soulful Flight”, which was filmed specifically for the All-Union Review of Choreography Schools. Then there were other roles in various ballet films. But there are also real roles in feature films- the biographical drama “Valentino” and in the film “In Plain Sight” together with the young N. Kinski.

Rudolph also tried himself as a choreographer, staging classical performances in his own version. His production also included the ballets “Tancredi” and “Manfred,” which were particularly original.

While leading the Grand Opera troupe in Paris, he tries to give scope to young artists, promoting them to best roles, and contrary to the current hierarchy of already famous soloists and approx. World practice has never known this before.

At the end of his life he had to forget about dancing, but parting with the theater was like death and Rudolf became an orchestra conductor. He was even invited to post-Soviet Russia as a conductor when it was necessary to conduct the ballets “The Nutcracker” and “Romeo and Juliet” in Kazan.

Personal life

In Rudolf's personal life there were exclusively men - the famous dancer did not hide his gay. Although, according to the testimony of some of his acquaintances, in his youth he started romantic relationships with girls.

At different periods of his life, no less famous personalities were next to the great actor. He is credited with having an affair with musician Freddie Mercury, fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, and singer Elton John. But the love of his life can be called the Danish dancer Erik Brun. Their relationship existed for a long time - twenty-five years, until Eric died in 1986. Their relationship was not easy; the temperaments of the Russian and the Dane were too different.

Death

By official version Rudolf Nureyev died of heart disease, but everyone knows that such a conclusion is far from the truth. In 1983, a blood test on Rudolph revealed the presence of the immunodeficiency virus, which has been called the plague of the 20th century. The disease progressed, because the dancer refused to admit that he had AIDS, did not undergo any examinations and did not take medications. Ten years after the diagnosis was confirmed, the great dancer passed away. This happened on January 6, 1993 in a Paris clinic. His dying wish was fulfilled exactly - the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois became the burial place, and a bright Persian carpet was placed on top of the grave.

The work of Rudolf Nureyev is very highly valued in his homeland, even though he left it at one time. The Bashkir College of Choreography, a street in the city of Ufa, bears his name, and a museum has been created. Every year a festival is held in Kazan classical dance, dedicated to Rudolf Nureyev.

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Biography of Rudolf Nureyev

Ballet dancer, famous choreographer of such countries as France, Britain, USSR.

Childhood

The birth of Rudolph happened unexpectedly for his parents; this event took place on March 17, 1938, in one of the carriages of the train en route to Vladivostok. On his father's side he has Tatar roots; his father and grandfather were from the Ufa province. His father, Khamit Nureyev, joined the Red Army in 1925. In 1941 he went to the front in the ranks of the artillery. He went through all the years of the war, took part in the defense of Moscow, and went on the offensive to Berlin.

His mother was from the Kazan province, now the Republic of Tatarstan. The family had a Muslim faith, and Rudolph's ancestors were Bashkirs and Tatars.

Very soon after the birth of the child, the father received an appointment and was transferred to Moscow. And in 1941, mother and little Rudolf were evacuated to the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. There were still three older sisters in the family, their names were Rosa, Rozidia and Lida.

Since childhood, the boy was attracted to ballet, he dreamed of big stage, but he began his journey by learning the basics of ballet art in Ufa, in a children's folklore ensemble. There, in Ufa, the ballerina Anna Udaltsova from St. Petersburg was in exile, and she began teaching children the art of ballet.

In 1955 at the age of 17 young man accepted the choreographic school in Leningrad. The young man was forced to live with his mentor and teacher, because in the dormitory he suffered ridicule from his peers, who considered him an ignoramus and a hillbilly.

Rudolf and his mother - Farida Nureyeva (Agliullova)

Little Nureyev with three older sisters

The beginning of a creative journey

In 1958, he graduated from school and, thanks to the assistance of ballerina Natalia Dudinskaya, remained to work at the Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov. His debut performance was the ballet “Laurencia”, where the young choreographer performed the roles of Frondoso.

The young man’s talent was quickly recognized and he took part in World Festival students and youth, which took place in Vienna. There he was awarded a Gold Medal for his brilliant performance.

Just three years of his work in the troupe had passed, and he had already become an important member of the team and high hopes were placed on him.

The young man got the opportunity to go on tour with the theater outside the USSR. These were countries such as Bulgaria, Egypt, Germany, France. On one of the trips to France and a performance in Paris Opera Nureyev was visited by KGB officers, and he was ordered to violate the rules of staying abroad. They demanded that he be removed from all further performances and sent back to his homeland. He was removed from further performances in London.

But Nureyev decided not to return to the USSR again. For which he was convicted in absentia for treason and the verdict was 7 years in prison, but in absentia, since he remained abroad, but if he returned, he could count on years of imprisonment. He was one of the first artists of the USSR not to return to his homeland from tour. However, in 1985, he was allowed to come to the USSR for three days to attend his mother's funeral.

The great ballet dancer - Rudolf Nureyev

Work in Paris

The choreographer's very first performances in the West took place at the Theater des Champs-Elysees. The ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” with the role of the Blue Bird brought Nureyev incredible, simply stunning success. And at the closing of the troupe’s season, Nureyev was already dancing the main role with such ballet primas as Lian Deide, Nina Vyrubova, Rosella Hightower. However, despite the great success, the French government denied Nureyev political asylum and political refugee status. After this, Nureyev decides to move to Denmark. There he continues his brilliant dancing career in Copenhagen with the Royal Ballet.

In 1961 it happened debut performance in London, he danced with Rosella Hightower in Swan Lake. For more than 15 years, the choreographer shone at the Royal Theater in London. His partners in the ballet were: famous ballerinas like Carla Fracci, Margot Fonteyn, Yvette Chauvire.

Later, Nureyev became the premier of the Vienna Opera, thanks to which he was able to obtain Austrian citizenship. He toured all over the world. It was possible to give up to 200 performances a year. In 1975, he increased this figure to 300. He had a performance almost every day. And I still had to rehearse. In addition to ballet, Nureyev began acting on television and in films.

In 1983, he took up the position of director of the ballet group at the Paris Grand Opera. He served in this position for 6 years, managing to stage several performances during this time.

He also contributed to the promotion of young but talented artists.