Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×
Support Ballet Alert! Year Round through the Amazon Affiliates Program by Clicking Here to Order from Amazon.com

Rudolf Nureyev

Rosie

By Rosie
in Dancers

Recommended Posts

Paul Parish

Paul Parish

Posted
Posted

Nureyev made a balletomane out of me. I saw him first in 1969, when he really was like a giant cat striding around hte stage. None of his films catch the quality he had live..... well, maybe hte Sylphides with Fonteyn, where you see the softness of his plie (which was totally gone by 1973, by which time he was already a caricature of hmself) and hte incredible stretch to his phrasing.

Live, in Swan Lake and Dances at a Gathering, he was so generous with his presence-- I'd never before seen anybody offer himself so. He wanted you to look at him, and was ready to take all the attentin you could give. Anthony Dowell, whom I loved as a dancer, disappeared when the two of them did the male duet in Dances at a Gathering.... couldn't see him, all I could see was Nureyev. Dowell pulled himself back.

He never asked you to look away -- which almost every other dancer does at some point. He never apologized for a preparation, and he'd do balancees as if they were double tours. (Check out the two balancees in his grand solo in le Corsaire -- they are the MOST BEAUTIFUL STEPS in the variation, not just breathers before he got back to the hard stuff). You didn't know whether you wanted to see what he was doing now or what he was about to do, if you wanted to look at him from the front, the side or the back -- but from any angle, and in any position -- ESPECIALLY fifth position -- he NEVER said "o don't look at this." He particularly offered you the back view -- which takes courage.

When he walked he did tendus, and he stepped where his foot was pointing -- the action was so clear, it gave you somethig to look at as well as at him. But the thing you were looking at was a double thing: both the dancer and the dance.

Link to comment
bart

bart

Posted
Posted

I too first saw Nureyev in the 60s, though the effect of his dancing was somewhat lessened by the vast distance between the Met stage and any seat I could afford at that time.

You make an interesting point here, Paul:

[T]he thing you were looking at was a double thing: both the dancer and the dance

On stage, especially in classical works, Nureyev certainly called attention to himself as a dancer, and specifically as a rather grand dancer in the Russian tradition. I wonder, however, if in other more modern works choreographers might not have wished there was more focus on the dance, and a bit more self-effacement in the dancer.

Link to comment
Gina Ness

Gina Ness

Posted
Posted

I wonder...I don't know what experiences more modern choreographers had in working with him. IMO, his movement quality and physique would have lent itself very well to more contemporary or modern dance. I have to say that he is one of my most favorite dancers of all time. He had more charisma and sex appeal in his little finger that most dancers have in their whole bodies. It was just natural for him, I think...

Link to comment
carbro

carbro

Posted
Posted
You didn't know whether you wanted to see what he was doing now or what he was about to do, if you wanted to look at him from the front, the side or the back -- but from any angle, and in any position -- ESPECIALLY fifth position -- he NEVER said "o don't look at this." He particularly offered you the back view -- which takes courage. dance.

Back view? By the time I saw him, mid- to late-70s, the highlights of his performances for me were when he simply turned his back to the audience and walked upstage. I do not say this (necessarily :) ) salaciously, but no one ever looked better walking away. I don't know if it was equal parts physique and charisma, but both elements were at work there.
Link to comment
ViolinConcerto

ViolinConcerto

Posted
Posted

I was in Asia for a long while in the 70's, and my first reconnection with "Western Civ" was seeing "I am a Dancer" when I reached Athens on my way back. That really opened my eyes. The pdd by Glen Tetley reached me on a very emotional level.

I just watched the pdd with Ms. Piggy, and think that the dancer in the Piggy suit hasn't received any credit, and surely deserves some (other than the points where they substituted a doll). Nuryev was equally skillful with doll and dancer, and a great actor, as well.

Alas, the next time I saw him was in 1984, at the Joyce, with a small group (they did "Apollo," "Moor's Pavane" and "Pas de Quatre," I believe) and to me it seemed that he was primarily terribly tired in everything. A fine, proud performer gone too soon.

Link to comment
canbelto

canbelto

Posted
Posted

One of the things I really like about Nureyev's Albrecht is how he contrasts the two acts. In the first act, he's a selfish, horny toad. In the second act, he's full of remorse, and it seems to come genuinely from the heart. In the Fracci/Nureyev video I got, he constantly tries to touch her skirt, and fails by a hair. This video was made when technically he was on a steep downhill slide, but that gesture is still one of the most touching things I've seen in a ballet.

Link to comment
sandik

sandik

Posted
Posted
Regarding Nureyev's work with modern choreographers, I believe he worked with Graham a good deal.

Off the top of my head, he worked directly with Graham (I believe she both made new material for him as well as set existing choreography) and with Murray Louis and Paul Taylor. Although he performed work by Jose Limon, I don't think he worked in the studio with him (Limon died in 1972).

Link to comment
dirac

dirac

Posted
Posted

carbro writes:

I do not say this (necessarily) salaciously, but no one ever looked better walking away. I don't know if it was equal parts physique and charisma, but both elements were at work there.

Well, I'll say it salaciously: the most awesome buns in ballet, without a doubt. (PLEASE, nobody start a thread......)

In Otis Stuart's entertaining bio, he quotes a ballerina who says that one of Nureyev's favorite devices, when he was unhappy with the level of the dancing around him, was to turn his back to the audience and flex. It never failed, she added.

I believe Graham made an original work on Nureyev and Fonteyn called Lucifer. I think Croce said it wasn't great Graham but it was great Nureyev.

Link to comment
bart

bart

Posted
Posted
Anthony Dowell, whom I loved as a dancer, disappeared when the two of them did the male duet in Dances at a Gathering.... couldn't see him, all I could see was Nureyev. ...

He never asked you to look away -- which almost every other dancer does at some point...

{T}he thing you were looking at was a double thing: both the dancer and the dance.

Without a doubt, Nureyev was a brilliant and mesmerizing dancer. You simply could not take your eyes off him. He could be a marvellous and generous partner. But sometimes I had the impression that he was deliberately using his charisma to take away attention from others on the stage -- and that this was, in a sense, an aspect of his art.

I especially will never forget a Nureyev/Fonteyn performance at the Met around 1964 or 1965. I can't recall the ballet (Giselle?), but the two of them were doing grands jetes around the stage, Nureyev in back of and slightly behind Nureyev. I realize that men can jump bigger than women, and that Fonteyn was entering the last stages of her career in this sort of role. But the impression I had was of someone very concerned with showing the audience "look what I can do. (And who is this woman trying to do the same thing?)" It was fleeting. And it passed quickly. But that was what I saw.

Even in dramatic roles he was, as Paul suggest, always "Nureyev." (Isn't that what much of his audience was paying for?) This contrasts with, for instance, Henning Kronstam, another very brilliant dancer, who "became the character he was dancing. He transformed himself into a role the way Merlin changed himself into an owl. The transformations seemed infinite." (Alexandra Tomalonis's biography).

That said, he's still probably my favorite dance memory of all times -- both on stage and on film, which he did equally well. His service to ballet -- expanding audiences, trying to raise standards, insisting on excellence, projecting passionate glamour onto the role of "dancer" -- probably can't be matched.

And there is the fact that the whole world knew "Nureyev," rather like the must have all known "Pavlova" in a previous generation. He stood for ballet. And gave it almost universal appeal.

-------------------

P.S. one more reference to Nureyev from Alexandra's book on Kronstam:

"Nureyev wanted to dance [The Moor's Pavane] in Copenhagen, with Kromstam as Iago, but Kronstam backed out of that cast, feigning injury. ... [Kronstam] gave this account: 'I knew the way Rudolf worked and I knew I couldn't deal with it. He had to change everything. He would never do what was set.' Vivi Flindt thought it was more that Kronstam knew that Nureyev would not work well in an ensemble cast, that he would change the balance of the work. 'Rudy never changed steps when he was here,' she said. 'He couldn't get away with it here like he could in London and New York.'"

Link to comment
toeprints

toeprints

Posted
Posted
Today is the anniversary of the passing from life of Rudolf Nureyev in 1993.

I treasure his performances of the 1960's most and acknowledge his triumphant career as dancer, choreographer and company director.

It is so hard to believe that it has been 17 years since Rudolf's passing. He will dance on forever in our hearts and memories.

To quote Rudi Van Dantzig: "The star has gone; its light is still visible." A very poignant comment.

I treasure Rudolf's performances during the 70's and 80's. I traveled quite a bit to see him dance, and he always delivered a great performance. I didn't expect him to leap as high as he did in his 20's, as so many others, including critics, did. His overwhelming dedication and passion will never be repeated.

Link to comment
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...