Rudolf Nureyev

Rudolf Hametovich Nureyev (March 17, 1938- January 6, 1993) was a Soviet-born ballet dancer whose suspended leaps and fast turns were often compared to Vaslav Nijinsky’s legendary feats. He was a flamboyant performer and a charismatic celebrity who revived the prominence of male ballet roles and significantly widened the audience for ballet.

Nureyev, who was of Tatar descent, spent his youth in Ufa, the capital of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now Bashkortostan republic, Russia). He began his ballet studies at age 11, left school at 15, and supported himself by dancing. At 17 he entered the Leningrad Ballet School, where he was taught by Aleksandr Pushkin. He was an outstanding but rebellious student, refusing to join the Komsomol (Communist youth organization), disobeying curfew regulations, and learning English privately.

After graduating in 1958, he joined the Kirov Ballet as a soloist. He defected during the company’s tour to Paris in 1961. Thereafter he danced as a guest artist with many companies, especially the Royal Ballet, where he regularly partnered Margot Fonteyn. His performances, combining an intensely romantic sensibility with stunning muscularity and technique, made him an international star. He choreographed new versions of Romeo and Juliet, Manfred, and The Nutcracker.

Nureyev became an Austrian citizen in 1982. From 1983 to 1989 he was artistic director of the Paris Opéra Ballet. He continued to choreograph for the American Ballet Theatre and the Paris Opéra Ballet even as his health declined from AIDS-related complications. He died in 1993 at the age of 54.