Rsian ballet about Nureyev dropped due to 'gay propaganda' law

rudolf nureyev gay

We chat about his approach to a gay in his wildly amb new film.

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TEENAGE BOY WHO GAVE RUDOLF NUREYEV THE FIRST LSON GAY SEX

He was brilliant, temptuo - and gay. She was 20 years olr and lled him 'Boy.' A new drama claims ballet's brightt stars were havg an affair. * rudolf nureyev gay *

"Nureyev, who's been labeled both bisexual and homosexual (pendg on who you ask), was also spotted wh Jackie’s brother--law Robert F. That was jt the gay sensibily, " Tracy says. It was 1979, towards the end of the gay revolutn.

I thk he wanted to ny he was gay, and that was the basis of Godunov's problems. Homosexualy was tolerated the dance world the USSR, but gays were sent to prison for havg sex, and Rsian society, particular, was very anti gay, although there were gay bars (unofficial) Anonymoreply 36April 24, 2015 3:05 AM. However, I wanted to put the ntext of Godunov's Nureyev stayed Rsia, he would have been able to live his life as a gay man, bee of his talent, the fact he would have lived the dance world, and the strength of his personaly.

RSIAN BALLET ABOUT LIFE OF SOVIET DANCER RUDOLF NUREYEV DROPPED DUE TO ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAW

I'm glad I stayed away om them gay Rski!

”I thought the gays ually did that the Anonymoreply 46April 24, 2015 1:40 PM. R55 - Many gay people feel like misfs growg up so I n empathize wh you there. He had half a dozen other elrgay iends of his there - and was great!

ON THIS GAY DAY: BALLET DANCER RUDOLPH NUREYEV DIED 1993

Not every gay man has to like thgs like Anonymoreply 99December 10, 2017 12:14 AM. I was jt a man wh homosexual urg I didn't fight.

" Five years olr than Nureyev, wh wavy blond hair and Cupid's-bow lips, Kiselev was "an exotic" by Lengrad standards, one of a terie of homosexual iends who, he says, were already aware of Nureyev's te sexual orientatn. That was jt the gay sensibily. He believ his iend, like other gays, was the victim of poisong by ernments.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* RUDOLF NUREYEV GAY

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class="RubricLk-gRWSOU fgWnkQ bric__lk" href="/magaze/books"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Books</span></a></div></div></div><h1 data-ttid="ContentHearHed" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearHed-NCyCC iUEiRd NbxED hpJvIc">Wild Thg</h1></div><div class="ContentHearAccredatn-lfctVB enhwXT ntent-hear__accredatn" data-ttid="ContentHearAccredatn"><div class="ContentHearDek-bIqFFZ Mtme">Rudolf Nureyev, onstage and off.</div><div class="ContentHearByle-kmPyCa gvUmxJ"><div class="ContentHearByleContent-dpPmNn DRFq"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl ContentHearByl-cZqgyJ bqbBYQ"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH ivtvgj byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL eErqIx byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/joan-acella">Joan Acella</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2007-10-01T00:00:00-04:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA kEBrdf">October 1, 2007</time></div></div></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU hQrwCF bookmark large-screen"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" 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kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Nureyev photographed by Richard Avedon Paris 1961 the year that the Kirov star fected om the Soviet Unn." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Nureyev, photographed by Richard Avedon Paris, 1961, the year that the Kirov star fected om the Soviet Unn.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">© 2007 THE RICHARD AVEDON FOUNDATION</span></div></figure></div><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">If ever there was an artist who ved the retributive sort of bgraphy that is fashn the days, is Rudolf Nureyev. Nureyev, as a iend of his put , did thgs that are “absolutely out of our habs.” He dropped balleras on the floor, threw dner plat at people, and blew his nose on hotel towels. He repaid his greatt benefactor by gog to bed wh the man’s wife. But Julie Kavanagh, her “Nureyev: The Life” (Pantheon; $37.50), don’t go for the ba. Nureyev may have behaved badly, she says, but he was bigger than that.</p><p class="paywall">Nureyev was born 1938, and, like most Soviet cizens who didn’t starve to ath the years that followed, he almost did. He grew up Ufa, a small town the republic of Bashkiria. The fay was Tatar, and poor—the father was a secury guard a factory. But Ufa had an opera hoe, and, one New Year’s Eve, Nureyev’s mother bought a sgle ticket to the ballet and sneaked her whole fay , cludg the seven-year-old Rudolf. He later said that was that night, as he watched “The Song of the Cran,” a sort of Bashkirian “Swan Lake,” that he received the ll. In dance bgraphi, one hears spicly often of the thunrclaps, but I thk they should be creded if they are soon followed by tense study. Wh a year, Rudolf was enrolled a ballet class, and om then on he thought of ltle else. His olr sister Rosa, who was also studyg dance, sometim brought home stum for him to look at. “I would spread them out on the bed and gaze at them,” he later relled. “I would fondle them for hours, smooth them and smell them. . . . I was like a dope addict.” But, bee he was stuck Bashkiria, was not until he was almost past his teens that he found his way to a ser profsnal school, the Kirov Ballet’s Vaganova Amy, Lengrad.</p><p class="paywall">Kavanagh is pecially good on Nureyev’s early years, when his arrogance was most explaable and touchg. On his first day at the Vaganova school, she wr, “the pale seventeen-year-old, wearg a th sweater tightly cched wh a large belt to emphasize his slim waist, and rryg his belonggs a bag no bigger than a briefse, was shown his livg quarters—a large, light dormory shared wh neteen other stunts whom Rudolf cid to ignore.” He soon began studyg wh Alexanr Phk, a renowned men’s teacher and a sort of sat of Rsian ballet. Phk’s specialty was turng rangy teen-age boys to classil artists. As his stunts reported, the batns that he assigned felt natural to the body, at the same time that they seemed to take you to the very center of classicism: harmony, “sweet reason.” Phk was also extremely kd and patient; you uldn’t provoke him. Fally, he cultivated dividualy. If he asked for one step and you did another, you were not sld. In all the world, would have been hard to fd a better teacher for the young Nureyev, who was way behd his trag, and sensive about that—ed, sensive about everythg. He later scribed his daily class wh Phk as “two holy hours.” In his other hours, he broke every le the school and swore at every teacher and ach, but Phk me to his rcue. When he had tantms at rehearsals, Phk would be lled . “Rudik,” he would say, “one n’t behave like this. Try some pirouett . . . that will lm you down.”</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">In 1958, at the age of twenty, Nureyev was asked to jo the Kirov. The followg year, he tore a ligament his leg and need special re, so Phk ved him to move wh him and his wife, Xenia, a pretty and strong-willed forty-two-year-old dancer, who had jt retired. Nureyev was soon bed wh Xenia. This paful story was whispered about for years. (It was prented as fact Diane Solway’s 1998 bgraphy, “Nureyev.”) Kavanagh fends Nureyev. Xenia, she says, sced him, and she was not a person one said no to. Nureyev was ightened and ashamed but also cur. So happened, and Xenia fell love. She darned his socks and oked his dners. She attend his class and rehearsals, and she shooed away any of his iends who might pete for his time. Did Phk realize what was gog on? No one knows, Kavanagh says, but the uple’s apartment nsisted of only one room. I doubt that he was fooled. His attentns to Nureyev remaed undimished, however.</p><p class="paywall">Soon afterward, Nureyev took a send lover, this one male: Teja Kremke, a ballet stunt om East Germany. For the rerd, Nureyev was bisexual (Xenia was not the last of the women), but most of his heterosexual ntacts seem to have had a clear practil payoff. Not that his homosexual ntacts were uneful. The French ballera Ghislae Thmar, a iend of his, said, “He was like those stctive predators who know precisely where to land and take their prey.” Kremke was an amatr filmmaker, and he surreptly filmed many of Nureyev’s performanc at the Kirov, to help him analyze his shortgs. Kavanagh unearthed the films, Germany, and they perm her, alone among Wtern crics, to speak wh thory and tail about his early, Rsian style.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Bee of Nureyev’s late trag, that style was unrefed. In the Rsian films, Kavanagh says, his shoulrs are hunched, his landgs are heavy, and his hands and feet flap. But what he lacked polish he ma up for tensy. He lnched himself to fabulo bravura steps; he breathed fire. And he told you he was dog so. Most ballet dancers aim for a look of effortlsns. Nureyev did the oppose. “He onto the stage as if to an arena,” his iend Vlette Verdy later said. “Is he gog to be eaten by the ln or not?” For the most part, his Kirov lleagu were unimprsed. They thought he was a showoff, and an untidy one. But was that batn that won the hearts of his dience. He was a tan, but young and crazy— other words, very appealg.</p><p class="paywall">An add attractn, for some, was his androgyny. Rsian male dancers of that time tend to be strong, solid, cyldril fellows. Nureyev found this ugly, so he molled himself on the female dancers. He cultivated a highly pulled-up torso and did elaborate, waftg arm movements. To make his legs look longer, he stood on a high half-pot. Everythg about him was stretched, angled, “placed”—like a ballera. Today, this look is standard for men, Rsia and the Wt, but the Soviet neteen-fifti was nsired effemate. When he ma his début “Giselle,” a fellow-dancer said, “We had a girl and another girl as the boy.” To many of his fans, however, his stylized self-prentatn seemed exotic.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">That was not the lim of his subordatn. Once, when he was dancg “Don Quixote,” the termissn was extend to almost an hour as Nureyev sat his drsg room, refg to put on the tnks that, for mosty, Rsian male dancers wore those days. He wanted to perform tights (aga, standard practice today), and he fally won, at which pot all the other young men also sisted on disrdg the tnks. Needls to say, he was unpopular wh the thori, but he didn’t re about that. One day, the K.G.B. ved him for a talk and asked him why he had not joed Komsomol, the Communist youth anizatn. He said he didn’t have time for such nonsense. This note of fiance rried over to his performanc, and ma them more excg. At his curta lls, Kavanagh says, the chanliers shook.</p><p class="paywall">To , today, seems nceivable that Nureyev would have remaed the Soviet Unn. But this was before the perd of the glamoro fectg dancers. (That perd was iated by him.) To most Soviet dancers of the time, fectn was not a nceivable choice. In the end, though, the thori forced his hand, after he forced theirs. In the sprg of 1961, the Kirov went on tour to Paris and London. The pany did not want to brg Nureyev—if anyone was gog to fect, they figured, he would be the one—but the tour prenter had heard about the wonr boy and sisted on havg him. So they brought him, and assigned jt about every K.G.B. agent on the tour to tail him. He paid no md, as ual. He ma iends wh French ballet people; they took him to movi, to shops, to dner parti—all of which he should have asked permissn for, and didn’t. The thori were fur, but he was the major attractn of the Paris season, so they let him stay until was over.</p><p class="paywall">Then, when the dancers were assembled at Le Bourget airport to fly to London, Nureyev was taken asi and told that he was not gog wh them: he was urgently need for a performance at the Kreml, and a Rsian plane would soon be takg him home. He burst to tears, and so did many of the other dancers, for they knew that this meant somethg worse than his missg the London season. It meant disciplary actn—perhaps a ban on his ever aga gog on tour, perhaps a transfer to a provcial pany. What happened next reads like a thriller; there was even a chase scene. A French iend of Nureyev’s, summoned om a pay phone, sped to the airport a taxi, racg agast the Rsian plane, to give him stctns and alert the French police. She found him the bar wh two K.G.B. men and, unr the guise of whisperg a tenr farewell to him, she told him where the French placlothmen were standg, a few feet away. Shakg wh fear, Nureyev got up, walked over to the policemen, and asked for asylum. There followed some yellg and shovg, and then was over.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Durg his Rsian years, Nureyev was already obssively dited to his work. His fectn ma him more so. As he put , “I felt that, should I ever stay the Wt, nobody would sh up to me to put me on a plate and hand me around like a ke. I would have to fight for myself.” Part of the fight was to perfect his technique. In Rsia, he had seen some pirated movi of Wtern ballet. One dancer who pecially dazzled him was Erik Bhn. Bhn, a Dane ne years olr than Nureyev, was an Apollonian dancer, wh neat feet, a betiful le, and a natural, unforced nobily—exactly what his Soviet admirer lacked. Nureyev swore that if he ever got to the Wt he would fd Bhn’s teacher and “go there and <em>suck</em>”—which, once he fected, he immediately did. More than that, he tracked down Bhn Copenhagen and began an affair wh him. Bhn beme the love of his life. Day after day, they worked together the stud, and the heat of their munn Nureyev refed his technique.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">The other great fluence on him durg the early years was Margot Fonteyn. In 1961, Fonteyn was the lead ballera of England’s Royal Ballet—actually, the lead ballera of Wtern ballet. Like Bhn, she was Nureyev’s oppose: seemly, unrstated. He longed to dance wh her, but whereas he was twenty-three she was forty-two, and ready to retire. She did perform wh him, however, and somethg happened between them. He regalvanized her, and for the next they enjoyed what was probably the most famo partnership twentieth-century ballet. Teen-agers, celebry hounds—ed, the general public—sudnly began lg up to buy tickets to the ballet. At the end of the show, they would howl, and tear their programs to nfetti to throw at their idols, whom they summoned back for twenty, twenty-five, curta lls. The Fonteyn-Nureyev phenomenon was a major ntributor to the “dance boom” of the neteen-sixti and seventi. They ma the art more popular than had ever been.</p><p class="paywall">The bt-known film of Fonteyn and Nureyev is of a 1965 performance of the pas ux om “Le Corsaire,” which, ftgly, Fonteyn appears as a daty main a blue tutu and Nureyev as an Oriental slave, silver harem pants, swearg fealty to her. (There is a mercial vio of this: “An Eveng wh the Royal Ballet,” distributed by Kultur.) Not only do the film monstrate the feats that Nureyev uld acplish at the height of his powers; shows what else ma him a star—his proud manner, his fancy placement, his great happs dancg, and also his sex appeal. Almost everyone who scrib Nureyev eventually par him to an animal. They bore you to ath wh this, but was te. He seemed an unleashed force, somethg undiscsable the language of reason or morals. Friends of Nureyev have said how much he loved his body. His longtime massr, Luigi Pignotti, said that what Nureyev really wanted was to make love to himself. In the “Corsaire” duet, he more or ls do so, symbolilly. People are still wonrg if Fonteyn ever went to bed wh Nureyev. Kavanagh don’t ll , but she quot Frerick Ashton, the Royal Ballet’s artistic director durg the late sixti, as sayg that Fonteyn probably ma love wh him only her md, the theatre. So did the dience, and was better than the real thg.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="fcxhbg"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="njdhpr"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa EOneK body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">By the end of the sixti, however, Fonteyn’s send wd was pretty much ed up. Meanwhile, the Royal Ballet was startg to feel that was losg more than gaed om the Fonteyn-Nureyev partnership. In some measure, the two stars had voured the pany. Most of the big new productns were for them, and the big old productns were rema for them, or him. For var reasons, but above all orr to crease his time onstage, Nureyev forced the pany to make substantial chang s revered productns of “Swan Lake” and “Giselle.” Many crics were shocked by this, and now they also found themselv plorg Nureyev’s “bad taste.” (He was a hammy actor, the Soviet manner, and he went for Kabi-que makp. Acrdg to the dance photographer Keh Money, his eyebrows, once he pencilled them, looked like “black bananas.”) Most ser of all was the fact that the uple was silg the Royal’s younger dancers. In a notor stance, Kenh MacMillan, an up-and-g hoe choreographer, ma a new “Romeo and Juliet” 1965 for two gifted young dancers, Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable. At the last mute, for box-office reasons, the admistratn clared that Fonteyn and Nureyev would lead the first st. Furthermore, once Nureyev was assigned to play Romeo, he began changg the choreography to su himself. This episo created terribly hard feelgs. The followg year, MacMillan left the Royal, to take over the Berl Opera Ballet, and Seymour went wh him. Gable gave up dancg. Fonteyn reportedly felt guilty to the end of her days. Nureyev no doubt felt fe. But the Royal now began cuttg back on the number of their performanc. Fonteyn went off to attend to domtic problems. (Her hband, a Panamanian polician, had been shot by an associate, reportedly bee he was havg an affair wh the man’s wife, and he was now quadriplegic.) Nureyev turned to other pani.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Nureyev’s dancg immediately raised the standard for male technique the Wt. Look at any ballet film om the neteen-fifti or even the sixti. The men have almost no turnout. Then look at films om the seventi, by which time the example of Nureyev, wh his hundred-and-eighty-gree turnout, had sunk . The men are all turned-out. Furthermore, even middle-rank dancers were attemptg the sort of bravura steps that he had brought wh him. He th changed the dience as well. Before him, Wtern pani were nsired as good or as bad as their balleras. Today, is the man’s variatn—the barrel turns, the gran pirouette—that the dience hollers over. This started wh Nureyev.</p><p class="paywall">Then there are his productns of the Rsian classics. For var pani, Nureyev mounted new versns of “Swan Lake,” “The Sleepg Bety,” “Raymonda,” “Don Quixote,” “The Nutcracker,” and “La Bayadère.” The last was the most important. When Nureyev arrived, people the Wt had had only a few glimps of this early Mari Petipa ballet. In 1963, at the Royal Ballet, he staged s Act III, the “Shas,” which is like a graduate urse Rsian classicism. Acrdg to Kavanagh, the productn changed the Royal, teachg s dancers to add Rsian sweep and plasticy to their rrectns—to put an enge their r.</p><p class="paywall">Such achievements mt be measured agast Nureyev’s weakns. His “Shas” was a fairly close py of the Kirov versn, but many of his other productns of the classics he “mornized” the story by addg a lot of claptrap about sex and vlence which was out of date even the sixti. A worse disfigurement was his choreography. To beef up his rol the classics, he had to put more dancg. He also ma a number of origal ballets. Most of this material is ltered wh small, fiddly steps—pets battements, ronds jambe—that go on forever whout gog anywhere. Nette Valois, the artistic director who hired him for the Royal, said that Nureyev had “a certa talent as a choreographer, but not much.” This is genero.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">His problem went far beyond choreography, however. Nureyev was utterly led by his narcissism. This meant not only that he had to be the star of every show; he also had to ntrol rehearsals, even if the ballet wasn’t by him and the choreographer was standg there. Furthermore, no matter what mment he had ma, he had to accept every other offer as well, so that he would often show up for rehearsals wh only a few days to learn his role. All he wanted, ever, was to be onstage; he hated to rehearse. As a rult, many choreographers wanted no part of him, and, therefore, he never really learned any style other than what he me wh.</p><p class="paywall">The choreographer he most wanted to work wh was Gee Balanche. Here, he felt, was the person who uld make great thgs for him, give the jewel s proper settg. But when he approached Balanche, 1961, about jog New York Cy Ballet, he offered to work for him only two months a year. “Not long,” he explaed blandly. “Jt for myself to learn the choreography.” The rt of the time, he would dance elsewhere. But by the sixti almost no one Balanche’s pany was allowed to appear wh other pani, let alone for most of the year. Furthermore, much that was central to Nureyev’s appeal was not to Balanche’s likg. Nureyev was a star, a “personaly,” like Sarah Bernhardt or Caso. To Balanche, that was rny, and reprehensible. New York Cy Ballet did have stars, but they were there to serve the repertory. When they didn’t, Balanche let them go. Nureyev, Balanche said, an terview wh <em>Esquire</em>, was “a one-man show, ‘I, me, a betiful man, alone.’ . . . Frankly, we don’t need this.” Kavanagh has dug up some good dirt on how certa people close to Balanche—Lln Kirste, the -founr and general director of New York Cy Ballet, and John Mart, the dance cric of the <em>Tim</em>—took agast Nureyev, and why. This is fascatg, but I don’t thk had much bearg on Balanche’s cisn. (Kavanagh fally says that.) By enterg to discsns wh Nureyev, I believe, he was jt beg pole to a fellow Kirov alumn.</p><p class="paywall">So Nureyev stayed at the Royal Ballet, and when, time, the Royal wouldn’t give him what he wanted he went to pani where his bargag posn was better; that is, to send-rank pani. Vienna Opera Ballet, Berl Opera Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Natnal Ballet of Canada, the Atralian Ballet: hirg Nureyev as a gut artist, the troup acquired enough box-office power to go on ternatnal tours. In return, they had to pay for his new versns of the classics and bench their young men, so that he uld perform the leadg role. (Durg the Atralian Ballet’s Amerin tour of 1970-71, he danced sixty-eight out of seventy shows.) They also had to put up wh his tantms. The were remarkable already his years wh the Royal Ballet. In the stud, to the horror of the other dancers, he would scream at Fonteyn: “Sh, sh, you dance like sh.” Once, at a drs rehearsal, he tore his stume to shreds ont of fifty prs photographers. (He thought ma his legs look short.) As time passed, his rag got worse. In Stockholm, he kicked the nductor’s podium until fell apart. This sounds amg— remds you of Tosni—but, for the pani, was moralizg. Furthermore, some of them were nearly bankpted by his productns. When his “Sleepg Bety” for the Natnal Ballet of Canada went a hundred thoand dollars over budget, the chairman of the board had to mortgage his hoe.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="58yrgr"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa EOneK body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">The suatn was shamg, but not to Nureyev. His life was harr now. Unr the prsure of nstant tourg, his body was a wreck. Some days, he uld barely walk. He nsoled himself wh luxuri. He had a baronial hoe near Richmond Park, London, and a villa the South of France. (Eventually, he also acquired an apartment the Dakota, New York; a four-hundred-and-fifteen-acre farm Virgia; a sprawlg apartment, filled wh antiqu, Paris; and a small archipelago the Gulf of Salerno.) But he was lonely. He seldom saw Fonteyn anymore, and the affair wh Bhn had end. His love life was mostly what he found bars or baths. His iendships, too, were an unedifyg spectacle. Some cent people did love Nureyev, and Kavanagh quot them sayg how ar he uld be, and how much fun. But her portra of him wh his entourage the last two s of his life looks like one of Shakpeare’s scen of the madned kg and his syphantic urtiers. From the time of Xenia Phk, Nureyev always had a followg of olr women who would do almost anythg for him. They fed him, they hoed him. They went on tour wh him and massaged his feet. Some of them pimped for him. To get the privileg, a woman had to have money, bee Nureyev did not like to pay for anythg. One of the women, Armen Bali, owned a rtrant San Francis where Nureyev, when he was on tour, would often turn up wh his whole pany after a performance. Asked if he paid for the banquets, Bali answered, “He didn’t know how. He’d brg a hundred people and never even tip. What Rudolf gave you was himself.” Then, when you displeased him, he gave you somethg else. His iend Jane Hermann was the director of the Metropolan Opera Hoe, a posn which she uld be very eful to him. He therefore liked her until, for var reasons, he didn’t. Then he let loose at her a rtrant, screamg that she was a “Jewish cunt,” among other thgs. Hermann stopped speakg to him. Armen Bali was bewilred by this: “All of a sudn she turns agast him bee he lled her nam. This is the thg he uldn’t unrstand, why people are so sensive.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In 1983, Nureyev unrtook his last really big assignment: he beme the artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet, the olst ballet pany the world. He is wily creded wh givg that proud, hibound stutn the shakg up that need. He hired teachers who had non-French trag; he brought morn-dance choreographers. In the procs, however, he veloped a bterly antagonistic relatnship wh the pany. Two of the morn-dance choreographers left whout fishg their ballets, bee the dancers refed to attend their rehearsals. Twice, the pany threatened to strike. Usually, he met their plats wh fiance. When a veteran teacher, Michel Renlt, objected to Nureyev’s terptg his class to make rrectns of his own, Nureyev broke his jaw. Renlt sued and was award twenty-five hundred ancs. “If I’d known would be that ltle,” Nureyev said, “I’d have h him a send time.”</p><p class="paywall">Perhaps, to change anythg whatsoever at the P.O.B., some breakage was required. But Nureyev was seldom able to mend thgs, bee he was Paris only half the year. The rt of the time, he was dancg wh other pani. In 1988, the Paris Opera got a new general director, who mand that Nureyev n the pany twelve months a year. Nureyev rpond by signg a three-year ntract to perform “The Kg and I” (as the kg) Ameri—a full-time job. He thought that he uld stonewall the P.O.B. He was wrong, and he was replaced as director 1990.</p><p class="paywall">Nureyev lived for three more years. He was given a diagnosis of H.I.V.-posive 1984, his send year at the P.O.B. By the time he left the pany, he was que sick, and this was obv onstage. Still, for every pany that now cled to ve him aga, there was another—typilly a place where the crics and the dience didn’t know much about ballet—that wanted him. He danced Cha and Japan and the Seychell. Often, he would lurch through performanc; at one pot, he was dancg wh a theter si his stume. On a provcial tour of England, early 1991, there were cri of “Refund, refund!” at the end of a show.</p><p class="paywall">So now he did what to him was the logil thg: he embarked on a new reer, as a nductor. In mid-1991, three months after his first nductg lson, he led a Vienne orchtra a program of Haydn, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. Later, he nducted Romania, Poland, and Rsia. No one his circle tried to talk him out of this. Anythg to get him off the stage.</p><p class="paywall">At this pot, if not before, a note of black edy creeps to Kavanagh’s story. Nureyev’s iends felt sorry for him, and they were willg, his last days, to let him e up their good will, their patience, their money. But his last days never seemed to e. In early 1992, Jane Hermann got a phone ll om an associate of Nureyev’s sayg that if she wanted to see him aga she should get over to his apartment now: “He’s refg meditn.” Hermann had not spoken to him sce his tira the rtrant, but she hurried to his si, and to cheer him up, seems—he was now bedridn—she told him that he had to get well, bee she wanted him to nduct at the Met. He sudnly felt better, and a month later he nducted “Romeo and Juliet” for Amerin Ballet Theatre at the Met. No one unrstood how he got through . In the drsg room before the show, he didn’t have the strength to do up his buttons. But at the post-performance party he asked Peter Marts, the artistic director of New York Cy Ballet, “When am I gog to nduct for you?” He was also thkg about openg a ballet school Rsia, and was discsns wh the mayor of St. Petersburg about this. He uld not get to his head that he was dyg. The end fally me January of 1993. He was fifty-four. His last words were “Moby-Dick.” The iend who was wh him at the time said that that was the movie that was playg on the TV his hospal room, but I wonr if he was planng another ballet.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Kavanagh spent ten years on “Nureyev.” She did a huge amount of rearch, and, acrdgly, the book is long: seven hundred pag. I uld have ed ls rmatn on Nureyev’s sex life, particularly sce all the men report the same thg—that he was a bore bed, “mechanil.” (“I should have charged him,” the choreographer Robert La Fosse said.) I also learned more than I wanted to about Nureyev’s ntacts wh celebri: how Natalie Wood chewed chicken bon wh him and Madonna sent him flowers. On the other hand, there are tim when what might seem excsive tail is jt what we need. Kavanagh tells the exact measurements of the Nureyev fay’s one-room apartment Ufa (sixteen metr square) and how many wdows had, ont and back. This is fe by me; I didn’t know much about poverty postwar Bashkiria. Kavanagh wr atmospherilly about Ufa, and other matters. She is also good at providg ntext—how, for example, Nureyev f to the Swgg Sixti—and bee she was once a dancer she n quickly expla ballet subtleti: how a Rsian jump differs om a Danish jump, and the like.</p><p class="paywall">My only ser plat about the book is that I thk Kavanagh gave Nureyev too many breaks. When he mak a terrible ballet, she says so, and she never tri to ver over his opportunism, but she has a tenncy to give jt the facts, and to avoid analysis. It seems to me, for example, that there was a nnectn between Nureyev’s lack of moral feelg and the general untelligence of his work—both his performanc and his productns. And jt as he had an entourage of y-men, or y-women, standg between him and the world, so there was a huge cliché mache surroundg him, an endls flow of effns about how he was a ln, a tiger, a wild thg. Nureyev, and the “Nureyev phenomenon,” did not appeal to our higher stcts. Kavanagh’s prev book, a bgraphy of Frerick Ashton, was more searchg, and I thk that is bee she tly loved Ashton, and admired him as an artist, so that she felt he uld survive close scty. If I am not mistaken, she liked Nureyev much ls, and steered clear of qutns that remd her of that. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="a73g"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2007/10/08" data-reactroot="">October 8, 2007</a>, issue.</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/joan-acella">Joan Acella</a> has been a staff wrer at The New Yorker sce 1995. Her most recent book is “<a href=">Twenty-eight Artists and Two Sats</a>.”</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="TagCloudWrapper" class="TagCloudWrapper-gGgndx ctyZyK ContentFooterTagCloud-krQmRG ZLGh"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudSectnHear-cOforY iUEiRd bPyAoD kQQRmu">More:</span><a href="/tag/balanche-gee" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Balanche, Gee</span></a><a href="/tag/bgraphi" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Bgraphi</span></a><a href="/tag/bisexuals" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Bisexuals</span></a><a href="/tag/fectns" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Defectns</span></a><a href="/tag/le-rsaire" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Le Corsaire</span></a><a href="/tag/ssians" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Rsians</span></a></div></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ContentFooterNewsletterContentWrapper-bmjtna kixtae"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper-fCqqkN jKSBhE newsletter-subscribe-form ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper-fpMElW eglIBL"><h3 class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDangeroHed-kRwWjt feDzQf newsletter-subscribe-form__hed ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf">Books & Fictn</h3><div class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDek-kXonvc grEaES newsletter-subscribe-form__k">Short stori and poems, pl thor terviews, profil, and tal om the world of lerature.</div></div><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper-keARJE hVWbzr"><form class="form-wh-validatn NewsletterSubscribeFormValidatn-iCYa-Dt dweEln" id="newsletter" name="newsletter" novalidate="" method="POST"><span class="TextFieldWrapper-Pzdqp hNhevp text-field" data-ttid="TextFieldWrapper__email"><label class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TextFieldLabel-klrYvg iUEiRd stdEm fvoOvz text-field__label text-field__label--sgle-le" for="newsletter-text-field-email" data-ttid="TextFieldLabel__email"><div class="TextFieldLabelText-cvvxBl eeDYTb">E-mail addrs</div><div class="TextFieldInputContaer-jcMPhb oFrOs"><put type="email" aria-scribedby="privacy-text" aria-valid="false" id="newsletter-text-field-email" required="" name="email" placeholr="E-mail addrs" class="BaseInput-fAzTdK TextFieldControlInput-eFUxkf eGzzTT lglhcT text-field__ntrol text-field__ntrol--put" data-ttid="TextFieldInput__email"/></div></label><button class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv dwpimO button button--utily TextFieldButton-csBrgY edxbrw" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="subm"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN hzwRuG button__label">Sign up</span></button></span><div id="privacy-text" tabx="-1" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDisclaimer-bTVtiV bsgLJZ"><span><p>By signg up, you agree to our <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">User Agreement</a> and <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement</a>. 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tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz ktcjQn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Iphigenia Fort Hills" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">A Reporter 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class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="A Cold Case" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of Crime</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM dVrbhU summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ fzzTdh summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">A Cold Case</div></a><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd 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