Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993 TAG: 9301070245
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY CAMPBELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
NUREYEV BROUGHT NEW EXCITEMENT TO DANCE WORLD
The first time Rudolf Nureyev danced at the old Metropolitan Opera, with the British Royal Ballet, the audience went wild. We'd never seen anything like it.He jumped higher than we'd ever seen a dancer do, took a "grand jete" - a big step, one leg extended straight forward, one back - farther than we'd ever seen, and at the top of it he seemed to float in air. It was so exciting, it was dizzying.
He was passionate about his dancing, threw himself into it. He landed from jumps and spins as lightly as a feather, exactly balanced and went on dancing. He did triple and quadruple beats in air, his heels moving past each other so fast they blurred.
But the dancing wasn't all of it. He had the stage presence of a star. When he walked on from the wings and waited for a ballerina to finish a variation so he could start his, excitement radiated from him just standing there. A viewer's eyes left the ballerina and went to him.
Part of it was his exotic look, high cheekbones that made one think of dashing Cossacks or wild Tartars, an unpredictable, thrillingly dangerous look, reminiscent of Rudolph Valentino as "The Sheik." In fact, Nureyev later portrayed Valentino in a movie biography.
In an interview, Nureyev once said the only male dancer in the world better than himself was Erik Bruhn, a Dane. He was right. Bruhn was better, more accurate and noble, and could be very moving. But Nureyev was No. 1 in excitement and bravura.
Later, when Mikhail Baryshnikov defected to the West, he wasn't as exciting, either. Nureyev had the advantage of being first. A fantastic ballet dancer, Baryshnikov was often more accurate in technique than Nureyev. But he wasn't quite as tall or quite as thin, his features not as exotic. And audiences had already felt the first-time heart-leaping excitement of seeing a great Russian male ballet dancer.
Nureyev's famous partnership with the lovely Margot Fonteyn produced images that linger vividly in the memory: the feather that stuck up from his turban in "La Corsaire" pas de deux, the elegance and apparent hauteur of his bows.
It didn't seem surprising at all when Nureyev turned to conducting instead of teaching, or that he learned quickly and was good at it. He had choreographed and headed a ballet company. But he was always, first and foremost, a performer.
Mary Campbell has covered dance for the Associated Press for more than 20 years.