The Man, The Muse, The Mystery

"Rudolf has a physical beauty to a degree which is unbelievable. To see him turn his head is something to write about. He can just stand still and it's beautiful." –Leslie Caron...  I think I can say without a shadow of doubt that Nureyev is my muse. This is where I write my musings.  Nureyev, Nuriev, Nouréev, Нуреев

[forepop]

A handy dandy guide to the “Big Three”!

[graceandfamily]

HOLA N.º 1247 -- 1968

[operaqueen]

Margot Fonteyn & Rudolf Nureyev

[littletroubledgrrrl]

[noureeva]

Guess who’s back from the dead?!

I completely forgot what email I used to create this account.

[ellesedgwick]

i will never be him

[ksavvy-blog]

My favorite ballet and my favorite partnership in ballet history.

[stilettoforbeginners]

[noureeva]

It’s been almost a year since I’ve started this blog. The 30th anniversary of Nureyev’s death is next year. There was an essay in my when I started this thing. I still think there’s something to say about Nureyev, his career, and legacy. I just feel differently than when I did when I started this blog. 

I lonely and living in France when I first got into ballet, when I first learned of Rudolph. Now I’m no longer in France, I’m no longer lonely and I don’t know how I relate to him anymore. I guess I have to think on that.

[mslazykat]

Rudolf Nureyev on the set of Valentino.

[reve-generale]

Nureyev speaks about his relationship with Margot Fonteyn

[teenagedirtstache]

[teenagedirtstache]

[teenagedirtstache]

[aqua-regia009]

Tannhauser in the Venusberg (1896) by Jacques Clément Wagrez (1850–1908)

[dance-world]

Rudolf Nureyev (17 March 1938 - 6 January 1993) in “Don Chichotte" - Opera di Vienna, 1966 -  Photo by Serge Lido (1906-1984)

[noureeva]

“… I was frankly slightly terrified of having to deal directly with a super-star like Nureyev, so I procrastinated. Then, one morning I came to work decidedly determined. I called the Sol Hurok office hoping to get information as to how to reach him. Surprisingly they gave me his private phone number without any questions. He was staying at an apartment hotel called The Navarro on Central Park South. It was still early morning, but I thought it would be safe to call him because I thought there’d be some underling taking his calls. Instead, it was Nureyev himself who answered, sounding extremely groggy. Apparently I’d woken him up. Not a good beginning. Flustered, I explained about the personality poster, and conscious of his reported anger over the photo sets, I was quick to explain that we could not pay much by way of compensation for the use of his image. Unfortunately, this was lost on him, both due to his sleepiness and his precise but rather limited knowledge of English. He didn’t say no, but he clearly wanted to get off the phone and go back to sleep. He said, ‘Find me at the Met sometime.’ He was dancing with Margot Fonteyn and the Royal Ballet for a New York season at the Metropolitan Opera House.”

Excerpt from The Mad Russian and the Great Dane by Neal Weaver, published on StageRaw.com