Library of exaggerations – Newspaper Kommersant No. 45 (7490) of 03/17/2023

Today, on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the birth of Rudolf Nureyev, a film version of his first multi-act production in the West, the Vienna Swan Lake, is released, in which Nureyev himself and his beloved partner Margot Fonteyn play the main roles. About the celebrations in honor of the main Soviet defector tells Tatyana Kuznetsova.

Russia is celebrating the non-circular anniversary of Rudolf Nureyev with pomp. The celebrations began on March 12, and numerous events in Moscow, Kazan, Ufa (premiers of three documentaries, performances, photo exhibitions, master classes) will continue until the end of the month. The festivities are supported by the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.

An amazing zigzag of state policy: 61 years ago, Rudolf Nureyev, who spontaneously demanded political asylum right at the Paris airport, was sentenced in absentia as a traitor to the Motherland to seven years in a strict regime colony. The fugitive was allowed into the USSR only in 1987 and only for 72 hours – to say goodbye to his dying mother. Two years later, the already terminally ill Nureyev (he was diagnosed with HIV in 1983) got the opportunity to dance La Sylphide on the stage of his native Kirov (now the Mariinsky) Theater. He was rehabilitated only after his death – in 1998.

“The first pop dance icon in the world”, as the current press releases certify Nureyev, really shook up Western ballet. And not only dance feats. More importantly, the fugitive from the USSR introduced Russian classics in his own interpretation into the repertoire of Western theaters, forcing the West to watch and honor his performances as a global heritage. The most incomprehensible thing is how a 26-year-old dancer who got into the Leningrad school only at the age of 17, studied for only three years and worked at the Kirov Theater for only three years, was able to materialize such blocks as “Raymonda” or “Swan Lake”. Nureyev staged both ballets in 1964 from memory – without handwritten notes and film documents. Of “Raymonda” in the London Royal Ballet, however, left only one act with the famous Grand pas. But the Vienna Opera ventured into the whole “Swan Lake” and did not fail in all respects. The provincial troupe, having jumped above their heads, noticeably raised their level, the audience and box office success was huge, and the leading actors Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev entered the Guinness Book of Records as the perpetrators of the longest bows in the history of the theater – they were called 89 times.

Here is this performance with scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis, moved to the pavilion and filmed in 1966 with Nureyev and Fonteyn in the lead roles, and is now shown in cinemas by CoolConnections. And this is perhaps the most interesting event of the celebrations. And it’s not even about the unique opportunity to see the dance of the young, in the prime of life and self-confidence, Rudolf Nureyev and the amazing Margot Fontaine, his 47-year-old partner, cavalry lady of the Order of the British Empire and the main ballerina of England. Their duet is truly unique. The touching humility and delight that this Odette-Odile catches every change of mood of this Siegfried, the way Nureyev conducts all duets with Margo with what masterly loving care – as if cherishing a part of his own body, can not be seen anywhere and never, even in their other joint ballets. But in addition to purely balletomaniac joys, this performance is also a precious document of that historical era, when the fundamental fabulousness of the 1950s had not yet been supplanted by the rebellious spirit of the next decade. Here, the brightness of the 1960s is manifested only in the abundant make-up and acting style of the protagonist: blue shadows up to the drawn eyebrows, romantic eyeliner around the eyes, sensual lips underlined with a pencil and mimic changes, when live direct acting reactions alternate with conditionally languid, old ballet. But the main thing is that in this production you can see what the young Nureyev appreciated (and therefore remembered) in the traditional Russian classics and what he wanted to change. And changed, highlighting himself, Siegfried. The choreographer Nureyev endowed his hero with a whole bunch of additional variations, so insidious in terms of coordination and combination of movements, as if he challenged all subsequent generations of dancers: try to repeat it.

He will do the same in his other productions of Russian classics, not caring in the least about loyalty to Petipa, Ivanov, Gorsky and other geniuses of the 19th century: destroy priceless corps de ballet dances that he did not remember, because he did not spend a single day in the Leningrad corps de ballet, and put your own in their place. Compose jumping inserts for men, taken out of the class of your favorite teacher Pushkin, come up with tricky combinations for women, complicate and increase the parts of the main character. To introduce characteristic dances unknown in the West in their own — exaggerated — interpretation, to occupy the entire troupe in mise-en-scenes and wrap all these choreographic structures with that defiant luxury that he considered true beauty. Blinded by unprecedented splendor, the West accepted and recognized Nureyev’s classics. And, regularly renewing his “Swans” and “Don Quixotes”, he still reveres her.