Product Description
Born on a train in Stalin’s Russia, Rudolf Nureyev was ballet’s first pop icon. No other dancer of our time has generated the same excitement – both on and off stage. Nureyev’s achievements and conquests became legendary: he rose out of Tatar peasant poverty to become the Kirov’s thrilling maverick star; slept with his beloved mentor’s wife; defected to the West in l961; sparked Rudimania across the globe; gave his rabid sexuality full reign; established the most rhapsodic partnership in dance history with the middle-aged Margot Fonteyn; reinvented male technique; gatecrashed modern dance; moulded new stars; and staged Russia’s unknown ballet masterpieces in the West. Julie Kavanagh’s uncompromising and magnificent biography, ten years in the making, is a brilliant tribute to a superstar the world can never forget.
From the Inside Flap
She went back to the table where the KGB men were sitting drinking cognacs.
'I forgot to say something to Rudolf,' she said smiling at Strizevsky, who
once again, nodded his assent - the girl was clearly infatuated with
Nureyev and reluctant to let him go. Whispering very quickly, she said to
Rudolf, 'You see the two men there at the bar? They're French policemen.
You have to go to them and say that you want to stay." Then we made a big
play of saying goodbye, and I left him, went to the bar and ordered a
coffee.'
Rudolf realized that it was his only chance. 'So I decide right there and
then that I'm not going back. This was goodbye time.' He jumped up from his
chair and rushed towards the bar, but Strizevsky came after him, and asked
him what was wrong. 'Nureyev was silent. And then he said, "I've made up my
mind." He didn't say what that was, but repeated that his decision was
firm, final and he wasn't going to change it.' Then, in what felt to Clara
like one second, Rudolf walked slowly- 'six steps exactly' - directly up to
the two French commisars. 'No jumping, no running, no screaming, no
hysteria, Quietly I say: "I would like to stay in your country."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Product Description