Nureyev - Dancing through darkness DVD 1997 Recollections of Nureyev's last years / Directed by Teresa Griffiths / Jack Lang, Patrice Bart, Elisabeth Platel, Liz Robertson / NVC Arts

UPC 0706301742020

REGION 2-6 NTSC DVD

MADE IN EU

AUDIO: Dolby 2.0 Stereo

Subtitles: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese

TOTAL RUNTIME: 51 minutes

English Summary:

Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993) was one of the most important dancers of the 20th century, standing out for having reformulated the role of the male figure in dance, until then limited to the support of dancers on stage. Born in the Soviet Union on March 17, 1938, Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev would flee to the West, where he achieved a dazzling career in dance, and died on January 6, 1993, in France, victim of AIDS, at 54 years. He danced on some of the most important stages in the world and with great dancers. He was invited to become director of the Paris Opera Ballet in 1983, while also continuing to dance.

Through the testimony of people closest to Nureyev, this documentary tells the compelling and untold story of his later years, and is a record of the creative vision of a genius trapped in a dying body. Above all, it shows a man's desperate struggle to transcend the limits of mortality by doing what he loved most - dance.

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (/ˈnjʊəriɛf,njʊˈreɪɛf/ NEWR-ee-ef, nyuurr-AY-ef; Tatar: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; Russian: Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, IPA: [rʊˈdolʲf nʊˈrʲejɪf]; 17 March 1938 – 6 January 1993) was a Soviet ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is regarded by some as the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.

Nureyev was born on a Trans-Siberian train near Irkutsk, Siberia, Soviet Union to a Bashkir-Tatar family. He began his early career with the company that in the Soviet era was called the Kirov Ballet (now called by its original name, the Mariinsky Ballet) in Leningrad. He defected from the Soviet Union to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him.This was the first defection of a Soviet artist during the Cold War, and it created an international sensation. He went on to dance with The Royal Ballet in London and from 1983 to 1989 served as director of the Paris Opera Ballet. In addition to his technical prowess, Nureyev was an accomplished choreographer serving as the chief choreographer of the Paris Opera Ballet. He produced his own interpretations of numerous classical works,^[6] including Swan Lake, Giselle, and La Bayadère.