Nureyev

His face could stop the train.

I got him drunk and tried to fuck him. Didn't work

I did fuck him. Didnt have to get him drunk.

On the contrary, Lee managed to fuck him. Nureyev later said that she did abortion. Maybe he lied tho.

R1 is insane.

Nureyev fucked a woman? hmmm. In Lee's dreams. Apparently he was monumentally hung too

Nureyev used to visit Gore Vidal and swim in his pool. After he got AIDS, Vidal would have the pool drained after his visits. I read some shit about Nureyev and Jackie Onassis fucking and that he gave her HIV and that she died from complications of it.

He was a real cuntski.

Rudi was a hot top, and hotter bottom.

One of those people that probably have off intense sexual energy in person. Not all that in pictures - but dancers generally are incredibly sexy in person so I believe he was a sex God.

A sex god who payed for it with his life

I read where during intermission at the ballet he would go looking for dick at nearby public toilets, get off with a guy, then be back at the theatre in time for the second act.

r4, with me and Rudy as parents, what a beautiful child that would have been

I read Julie Kavanagh's 800 page biography of Nureyev is the best one yet.

I adored him. Still do. In fact I just finished reading a biography by Julie Kavanaugh. Excellent. He was incredibly poor. But he was dancing from a very young age. If you get a chance there's a gem of a movie that came out last year I think. Called "White Crow" directed by Ralph Fiennes who does an excellent job in the movie playing his teacher. I love the movie. You can stream it.

In his earlier days he did have sex with both men and women, but he was always Gay and was exclusively into men by the time he was in his 20's.

R15 so you must agree with me that he definitely fucked Lee.

This tasteful friend approves of his taste in interiors.

The link shows his Paris apartment; his New York apartment at the Dakota was fitted up similarly.

Nice ass.

His a ability to decorate with kilims was impressive. Way overdone - yet beautiful. Like that Rothschild apartment in Paris.

Fonteyn's biography calls him "a brilliant child". He was very kind to her.

Ok, so he fucked me from behind and told me my flat chest was rather boyish alright!

He was linked to patient zero and Freddie Mercury

He had a big cock & a great arse but he couldn't live forever.

He had a lovely villa on St. Barts.

Wow, that four bedroom house in St Barthe’s is gorgeous - but at 9,500 Euros per night during high season it’s a bit steep for me.

His dick was on display in the Sheikh, I think was the name of the movie. My friends thought it funny he was unaroused in the sex scene he was playing with a woman. Miscast.

Just how well did ballet pay? I know he was an all-time great but those homes indicate incredible wealth.

R28: His worldwide estate was worth more than $20M according to a NYT article form 1997 ($7M American assets.)

His summer home - a couple of small islands off the Amalfi Coast called Le Galli - was (and is) stunning.

It seems odd to me that he had the money to buy all of these properties and collect all of these possessions on a ballet dancer's salary. I don't think Mikhail Baryshnikov (who became famous after Nureyev ) did as well.

The lady I am roomates with here in Romania had a grandmother who was a prima ballerina who met Nureyev. She says her grandmother told her he was a gentleman.

R32 thank you for sharing! :)

[quote] he was a gentleman

means he didn't try to seduce her.

R27, the movie was VALENTINO, directed by Ken Russell and one of the worst movies I've ever seen. One of the rare times when I walked out of a movie.

He was the most famous male dancer in contemporary history when he defected. He was infamous in the SF bathhouses. Ritch Street in particular. The famous SF columnist Herb Caen always chronicled his adventures. From rooftop police busts with Fonteyn to his trips to the baths. I saw him in several productions. I had a cute friend who fucked him at the baths in NY. They both died of AIDS within a year and, I wondered if my friend was responsible or vice versa.

R31 , I never understood this either. How did he become so wealthy. You must make more than 5 million each year (in today’s money) to maintain this lifestyle. Did he inherit from an admirer?

He was paid top dollar. It was standing room only anywhere he was dancing. Packed houses mean high pay. Baryshnikov as well.

He was a genuine Soviet multi-millionaire.

I have Leslie Caron’s memoirs on Kindle, so want to share what she said about Rudolf :

“I learned to love Rudolf dearly, the most vulnerable person I’ve known, hiding his tenderness under caprices and the foulest of language. I’m not afraid to use the word “genius” when I talk about him. He had exceptional intelligence, powers of seduction, humor, an open mind, and curiosity about everything. The world was too small for his appetite; he wanted to experience all that the universe had to offer, way beyond ballet. He was avidly interested in poetry, in the theater, in films, in opera - and furthermore he could sing all the great soprano arias in a falsetto voice. We became close friends in the beautiful city of Bath, where we were filming the Valentino mansion. We were on our own every night for dinner, and immediately, as if we’d known each other for a long time, we began to exchange intimate information. Nureyev knew how to be a close friend. He wanted to know about my life, my childhood, and he asked questions in a soft voice - almost like a child. He was bluntly truthful about his own, though never vulgar. “I was born in the armpit of the world! There!” He would point to Tartar country on the map. His use of obscenities, said with a pronounced Russian accent, made him very amusing. He didn’t get along with Michelle Phillips, who was playing his wife, Natacha Rambova; her star attitude didn’t work with him. His reaction was as straightforward as a punch in the nose: “Just because you play c-- in film doesn’t mean you have to be c-- in life!” He was quite nervous about his lack of social savoir faire and asked me to accompany him to the Iranian embassy when the ambassador gave a dinner for him in London. He wasn’t sure he would pick the “right” fork. We sat, about twelve guests, around the largest round table in blond varnished wood. Two butlers came in with tureens full of the best gray caviar, offered with silver ladles - not spoons, ladles. No garnish, no lemon, just pure Iranian caviar with toast. I served myself a generous portion, which I ate with extreme pleasure. Just when I thought I couldn’t eat another thing, the butlers came in again with the tureens replenished to the brim. I had to refuse, aware that I would later regret it. Rudolf liked to be admired. During the film he kept up his training and would ask me if I wanted to watch him do the barre. Yes, of course I did. There was always a local theater with a barre in the wings, lit by one glaring bulb - he would sit on a chair and undress without the least embarrassment. He knew he was beautiful. But above his flawless technique and the rare proportions of his body he had a quality tenderness and grace that gave meaning to the ballet steps. Despite the formality of classical ballet, his dancing wasn’t mechanical; it spoke with lyrical poetry. Onstage he kept an intimate dialogue with his partner, enraptured by her, the two of them alone in front of a thousand pairs of eyes. One night at curtain call, amid the thunder of clapping hands and the cries of adulation, someone booed him. I can’t think who would boo Nureyev; still, he may have had enemies. Holding his partner with his right hand, he took his bows with a humble tilt forward, but the middle finger of his left hand was definitely up in the air! An old Russian lady followed every one of his performances and always came backstage to congratulate him. Although a crowd surrounded him as soon as he left the stage, he would reach for her and stand respectfully before her - suddenly the little Russian boy in front of his babushka. In Paris, sitting in the restaurant after a performance of Giselle at the Palais des Congrès, a group of close friends surrounding him, he first drank one or two glasses of white wine (laced with water - oh, what a crime!), then sat back with a puckish smile and said, “Now, compliments.” “

R40 Leslie Caron's ghostwriter is Hello! Magazine on loan from AbFab.

The Warhol "superstar" Ultra Violet also claimed in her memoirs he fucked her nonstop for hours once.

He was gorgeous. In highschool I checked out a book about him from the library several times. It was mostly black and white photos, and I tried to sketch him from the pictures. He looked amazing in his tights.

Eh fuck it, he was still a Slav.

Interesting person, but the thing that has always stood-out in my mind is his grave, in the Russian Orthodox cemetery in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France. It appears to be a Persian carpet draped over a tomb, but its actually a mosaic, entirely made of small porcelain and glass tiles. Its one of the most beautiful things I've seen, and certainly the most beautiful resting place.

I ran into Nureyev during the intermission of "Antony and Cleopatra" at the Young Vic in London in the late 70s. Literally ran into him. We were standing in the aisles headed for the lobby. There was a man standing in front of me wearing a ratty brown knit cap and a floor-length black sable coat (that I really wanted to touch, just to see what it felt like, but didn't). Someone behind me tripped and stumbled into me and I fell forward a bit into the sable coat (so, in the end, I did get to touch it). I apologized to the man before he turned around and gave me the "You, Peasant..." death glare (I'd barely touched him). It was Nureyev. A week later I saw him at Covent Garden with Makarova in Swan Lake. Which was far better than that production of A&C.

He's was so beautiful I find him asexual.

I remember how Gore Vidal said about Rudi "He has known everyone ... In the biblical sense."

Nureyev had properties all over world; Paris, south of France, Amalfi Coast, St. Barth's, New York City, and Leesburg, VA.

Auctioning off of Nureyev's possessions was ghoulish, but that is and has been the way for ages. Famous, wealthy person is not even cold in their graves when hordes descend to pick over what was once theirs.

R40

Paragraphs, my eyes need paragraphs!

R29

For you legal gals, and or those with other interests, the American foundation prevailed at trial.

R45

"His tombstone, at Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery near Paris, was created by Ezio Frigerio, who designed Nureyev’s final production of La bayadère for the Paris Opera Ballet. It’s a mosaic rendition of an oriental carpet, its folds draped over a traveler’s trunk."

R27 The film was Ken Russell's "Valentino."

Lovely passage, thank you, r40.

Valentino

R55 It's worth watching just to look at Nureyev's cheekbones. thanks! 😉

There are some good dance scenes also which I assume Nureyev found very easy, even if they didn't require ballet.

Gals, who wants some tea on Rudi from the book “The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee”?

Rudi and Tab with their dicks pointing at each other...

Tab admits, "I did know Rudi when I was in the South of France, yeah" while being interviewed with his life partner and producer of the documentary, Tab Hunter: Confidential, Alan Glaser...

Rudolf with the love of his life Erik Bruhn.

Tab Hunter and Rudolf Nureyev had a "affair", but Mr. Hunter remains rather quiet about that relationship. This in compassion to his time with Tony Perkins of which tons of tea has been spilled.

With Tab, Rudi was a top; that's why Tab is a bit hesitant on the subject.

R61

You beat me to it.

Yes, the Great Dane and Mad Russian had a long and passionate relationship. However sex part of it died down rather quickly....

More:

Helmut Berger about his affair (I would say ons lol) with Rudi, google translation from German : "Embarrassingly, the story of Nureyev. For me. We wanted to make a quickie to him at home. Since I've opened the zipper, and there is my foreskin hanging stayed focused. Since they have brought me to the hospital by ambulance. Since I only wear pants with buttons."

R66

LIke any sensible hot gay youth (or straight girl/woman for that matter), Helmut Berger got money and security from the older Luchino Visconti, and raw hot sex from Nureyev. But the latter besides rough sex liked garlic and vodka a bit too much for Herr Berger, so back to Papa Visconti he went.

In hindsight had Helmut Berger remained with Nureyev he might have ended up better off financially. Visconti died and supposed will naming Herr Berger as his sole heir couldn't be found. Berger was savaged by people like Franco Zeffirelli, and left in rather reduced financial circumstances.

Nureyev was intact. Sorry.

Take back your mink...

Nureyev danced (well into his 50's), choreographed, directed, conducted orchestras all right almost until the end.

For those interested bit of look how ballet pays nowadays.

Someone who posted here a few years ago had some very unsavory things to say about Nureyev’s sexual hygiene issues. It’s late and I have a full stomach so I can’t go there tonight.

R72 Shit on the steps of Franco Zeffirelli's villa? Hahaha

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R72

Nureyev's disdain for personal hygiene in general was widely known and often commented upon. Sexually things could only have been worse; oft quoted comments were that RH was like an animal; he'd come (or go) from rehearsals or performances sweating and unwashed right to sex. When done go right back to whatever it he was doing before or whatever.

Nureyev was what he was; basically a poor Russian peasant who made good.

More:

Noureev était un danseur magnifique et un grand amoureux !

Ewww r76. Gross.

His real name was Topol.

R34 - no, it means he didn't act like a "drunken Slav". Seduction wouldn't have been a possibility as she was cancer stricken and barely able to move anymore.

You ask how Rudy made so much money, but not only was he paid top dollar to dance, he was much more than a dancer. He was a choreographer, he was a writer, he designed costumes, he literally revolutionized the role of the male dancer in modern ballet. He was a phenomenon with a huge appetite for life and art and learning.

He loved to look at classical paintings and sculptures by the old masters. He knew everything about them, and they inspired him. He designed stage sets, and even helped arrange musical scores. Absolute genius. Extremely exacting, very high standards and while he was a wild man when it came to his sex life and his social life, he was extremely focused and disciplined when it came to art. He was obsessive about the dance. worked himself relentlessly. It was very punishing on his body.

R34 - what Nureyev did do was give her a card and flowers on which he wrote "for the lady with a face as delicate as a cameo" in French. He was a very refined man in person.

[quote] He was a very refined man in person.

He was a smelly Bashkir.

"As I went on photographing, he slowly raised his arms, and as his arms went up, so did his penis. It was as if he was dancing with every part of himself. His whole body was responding to a kind of wonder at himself. I thought this was the most beyond-words moment—too beautiful to be believed. A narcissistic orgy of some kind. An orgy of one." — Richard Avedon

Avedon is observing the extraordinary level of ecstasy Rudy could reach when the spirit moved him. He expressed everything through dance.

R85 - honey, even in Eastern Europe, gay men don't allow themselves to smell when they are so young and beautiful.

I love that he called Michelle Phillips a cunt!

Rudolf and a "Cunt". He’s so breathtakingly gorgeous here.

The Soviets were crazy to lose him. What was the problem? They could have supplied him with Red Army and and Workers to fuck him 24/7. There was no problem with having lots of money, provided it was legit. He could have any long-term lover he wanted. Don't tell me he craved demicracy. It was just typical Soviet fuck up that he left.

^^democracy

Nureyev was quoted as saying, “I will never return to my country, but I truly believe that I will never be happy in yours.” Sad..

If your tastes in Russian men runs towards tall and blonde there was Alexander Godunov...

AG is hardly spoken of these days even in ballet circles nowadays it seems.

AG's downfall was that dreaded curse of many Russians, drink. Alexander Godunov literally drank himself to death.

R91

Not taking away from Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Godunov, or any of the others who made it to the west, but Bolshoi neither then (1970's or whatever) or now has been short of extraordinary male dancers.

Am not saying none of the above didn't bring something of their own that wasn't a dime or dozen in Russian ballet circles,

You get to see a lot of RN naked in one scene in "Valentino," which is worth seeing just for that. He's got a big dick.

Nureyev had been a worry to KGB and other Russians in high places long before he defected. RN had a fascination with the west and it was open for all to see . This of course put Nureyev on a collision course with KGB and Russian government who felt such things were treasonous

As for giving RN anything he wanted, far from it; the KGB kept Nureyev on a tight lead surveillance wise, and those instructions could only have come from the top. Nureyev would never have had the sort of professional, artistic and personal life he did in west had he remained in Russia. Had he not defected while in France, chances are very good Nureyev would never have been allowed to travel out of Russia again.

Did the Blowjob Queen of Burbank have a go at Rudi?

In 1989 he was paid a million dollars to lead a long North Anerican tour of The King and I with Liz Robertson. He completed only the first leg of 24 weeks; further performances were to be worked around his ballet schedule. The reviews were mixed.

Footage from the tour is intercut into the interview below.

R44, r64, and r75, Nureyev was not a Slav. He was a mix of Tatar and Bashkir.

R17 - "so you must agree with me that he definitely fucked Lee."

It's hilarious how DLers focus on Lee R. and ignore the great love affair of his life which was with the great Danish premiere danseur Erik Bruhn.

I doubt any woman alive could possibly have competed with Bruhn in Rudi's imagination or bed.

There's a photo somewhere of the two of them seated next to each other on a practice room floor. Each man's temperament is etched in his expression, the hot show off and the cool introspective Nordic, but the connection between them is palpable.

He drove Bruhn crazy and the great affair ended but I don't think the connection ever did. One of the great unsung love stories of the dance world.

Lee R. my fucking arse.

R77 - Ghislaine Thesmar et Rudi?! Vraiment?!

Elle éait une danseuse extraordinaire.

^*était

Well, let’s not ignore Robert Tracy either.

The BO would be a dealbreaker, regardless. Nothing more frustrating than a hot man that stinks. And Rudy was not even that hot.

His talent and his artistic appetites were too big for the Soviet Union. He scared them.

I loved this movie. It's gorgeous. This guy has a remarkable resemblance to young Nureyev. He is a Ukrainian Ballet dancer and he does a remarkable job. Ralph Fiennes is excellent as usual. Flawless really. If you have a chance to see this please watch it.

Indeed, amazing movie and Oleg Ivenko is a handsome man.

R108 is there nudity?

What about Delon?There are pictures of them together and Delon was all delighted

Damn, yes he is, thanks R109.

You know, it's interesting the way Nureyev re-made the male dancers roles in Classical Ballet. He was certainly not physically the "right" shape for a male dancer. He was not as tall or slender. He was more muscular.

Nureyev was a guest on David Letterman while he was touring with the King and I. I remember David asking him if he was ever tempted to just start leaping around on stage during the show. RN smiled and said that would be out of character.

R18, I see he lived by the credo “less is more”...

[quote]The Soviets were crazy to lose him. What was the problem?

Boredom. Genius writes its own rules, and there's only so many times you can visit The Hermitage. Of course Rudy wanted to escape to the cultural and social freedoms of The West, to as much of it as possible.

As noted above, his appetites for life, for all of it, were voracious. I greatly doubt that during his sad slow decline he'd have swapped his extraordinary heyday for a longer life of provincial what-might-have been in the Soviet Union - in effect a living death. Doubtless he knew his Chekhov.

Real stars are by definition so rare, and Rudy blazed for all to see.

R74 re RFK and Jackie, I don’t buy it. But I think Rudolf liked to talk lol.

From Simon Robinson’s book “A year with Rudolf Nureyev”:

Rudolf enjoyed creating little fantasies, especially after dinner when he was a little drunk and trying to scandalize me. First he said he should have married Margot; then he said she was a lesbian. He felt sure of this (he said) because he had seen her with somebody else’s wife. It was a typical bit of Nureyev gossip. He talked about homosexuality as easily as other people talk about the weather. (Once - slightly drunk again - he even hinted he might have had a homosexual relationship with Bobby Kennedy. Wishful thinking, perhaps.)

Towards the end of his life, Nureyev was desperate for a son. Don't know why he couldn't find a babymomma, but it never happened.

Rudy in his heart of hearts knew he was Gay as an adolescent. He also knew that Soviet Russia would crush him for being Gay. It is one of the many reasons he defected. Of course it was for artistic freedom, but you can't separate him being Gay from all that. And the particular viciousness toward Gays in Russia was always going to be a problem. Rudy was not made for a closet, for sneaking around.

Nureyev and Baryshnikov were not only great dancers but stars on stage. They could easily sell out a house. I don't believe there is one dancer in the ballet world who could sell out a house. There are fine dancers but none that create the excitement that once existed. There is a term that once existed in opera-demented- where a singer and performance could so hold an audience people would be delirious from excitement. From people who went to opera and ballet years ago and continued to go until covid did this continue at certain performances where it was almost impossible to get a ticket and if you got one you were grateful you got into the house no matter where you were and the excitement before the curtain went up was nerve wracking?

Did Mishas have the same poor hygiene as Rudi?

As per R14 & 15, read the bio they suggest to get the full picture of the great Nureyev.

Ralph Fiennes movies is based on the KAvanaugh bio. It takes us through his early life up until his defection. Very exciting scenes, BTW. He couldn't be discovered to be Gay, it would have destroyed any hope of a career in dance in Russia back then.

Nureyev is not even among the great male ballet dancers. He had a lot of drawbacks and limitations, outside his form. He was a heavy dancer, charismatic. I've only seen him in clips of course, but it's well known. He was some wild pig with a dazzling life. Eric Bruhn taught my uncle in Canada. And "mentored" him too. Bruhn had the best legs in the biz and would tell them so daily. But like a lot of people from that time, it's hard to understand the big deal about them now. Nureyev's personal self indulgences and using of people were legendary. Lil old charlie glamorizes that sort of thing, but Rudolph was a charmless pig the upper classes indulged. He was to be found in any bush or in any bathhouse in the world with his ASS up for a bucking fuck. Day and night. Always. Whatever talent he had was long gone, long before he died. Because he was lazy and spoiled - not sick. Ridiculously entitled and bad tempered. Not unlike Streisand he insisted on behaving as a big and important and expensive star long after critics could no longer lie that his talent and time were long over. He was dynamic and louche except when he had a dick in his hole and he finished those off pretty quick too. Next! Who's next? There wasn't a man on the planet who didn't ride him if they could put up with the smell.

Well everybody who saw Nureyev when he was young would tell you he was a great dancer. People who were old enough compared him to Nijinsky. Bruhn was far more handsome though from what I can tell on film had impeccable style but lacked excitement.

I saw them both but late in their careers. Nureyev insisted on dancing but he was pathetic at that point. His middle aged female fans at that time still were crowding the stage and going crazy.

Nureyev was not as much of the diva as many like to claim. Also the reason he defected was obvious– he would have been stifled in a soviet country artistically and he could not keep contact as once you defect you are an enemy of the state.

Vladimir Vasiliev was a far more talented dancer than Nureyev. Barishnykov was not a principal dancer in the USSR.

Being a gay ballet star was not an issue in the USSR. The arts was one of the few areas where homosexuality was tolerated officially. That said, many gay men married ballerinas to advance their careers, although they usually lived separately and eventually divorced.

“..As he subsequently did for other interpreters of Jeune Homme, Petit adapted the role to bring out Rudolf’s own qualities and beauty: As one writer put it, “We get the perfume of him.” There are close-ups of his tiger crouch, and movements that are far more classical than they were in the original. The frenzied solo of erotic frustration is now much longer, and where Babilée violently swings and flings a chair, Rudolf partners it like a ballerina. The outcome, Babilée has complained, is not the same ballet, which is true: The film, which jettisons Cocteau’s rooftop scene, is not a literal version of the stage production but a newly conceived work for the camera. It is, however, not correct to say that in Rudolf’s interpretation “Cocteau is no longer there.” Babilée’s character was un homme fatal, so “infernal” that he frightened his new wife, Nathalie Philippart, dancing the part of La Mort. “She used to say, ‘You’re crazy—you’re going to kill me!’ because I would grab her with such  … verité. If you don’t reach that point it’s not le Jeune Homme.” Rudolf, on the other hand, drawing on his own early experience, makes the character more of an innocent—an intense, high-strung youth of ambiguous sexuality who is in the thrall of a strong-willed older woman. As Jeanmaire says of her role, “She seduce him during that ballet.” The way he is both helplessly drawn and repelled by La Mort’s advances introduces undercurrents of misogyny and homosexuality to the ballet that are intrinsically Cocteauesque. Jeanmaire’s own conception is also entirely different from that of the first stage versions. Philippart had danced with no emotion—“I was hors-lyric”; the proud, unattainable Claire Sombart had cruelly rebuffed her clinging lover; whereas Zizi’s character resembles La Mort of Orphée, who involuntarily falls in love with her victim. “Beware of the sirens,” the hero is warned in Cocteau’s film, to which he replies, “It is I who charm them.” Zizi admits that she herself had “great feeling for Rudolf. I loved him very much—my God, he was attractive.” Far from being a starkly glacial belle dame sans merci, she dances like a sexually responsive vamp, striking Casino de Paris poses, and caressing herself with the tips of her long manicured nails. When Jeune Homme was created, it was Cocteau who “did everything,” Babilée claims, whereas the film, with its slick veneer of Hollywood glamour, is pure Petit. Instead of a softly flowing dress, Zizi wears a tunic as revealing as her Carmen corset in order to vaunt the famous legs, while Rudolf’s sexuality is magnified by the camera’s homoerotic relish of his naked torso and taut, denim-skinned thighs and buttocks. In fact, though, Rudolf’s look—the teased hair, the lips outlined and glossed, is totally in tune with Tom Wolfe’s sixties—the “Bangs manes bouffants beehives Beatle caps butter faces brush-on lashes decal eyes.” It is, as Baryshnikov says, “a high camp beauty parlor” Jeune Homme, and it was instigated by Petit, who has always adored artifice. “The diamonds, the eyelashes, the makeup—everything is fake but everything seems sumptuous, everything fostering dreams.… It’s the supreme art of eye shadow. It’s magic.” He admits encouraging the dancer to enhance his beauty, reminding him to touch up his lipstick before they shot the next take. When Rudolf asked, “Am I good on the screen?” Petit would assure him that he took the light like Marilyn Monroe. “I would tell him how photogenic he was. And he was so happy.” “ — Nureyev: The Life by Julie Kavanagh

I saw Nureyev live twice in my life.-- first time in "Giselle" w/ Makarova.

Then, near the end of his life (when it was only rumored that he had AIDS), I saw his performance at the Hollywood Bowl. What I remember is that he was heavy on stage, his butt was twice its normal size and his dance was very limited. He didn't soar through the air like before.

He danced to a very discordant woman's voice singing , "Ohhhhh, Pierrot!" I cried about Nureyev's decline when I got home.

I saw many great performances by the American Ballet Theater around 1975-76.

I saw Baryshnikov dance Le Bayadere and Twyla Tharp's "Push Comes to Shove."

I saw Gelsey Kirkland. Fernando Bujones, too.

In addition to Nureyev and Baryshnikov, another favorite dancer I saw perform thru ABT is the late Hungarian ballet star, Ivan Nagy (not Heidi Fleiss' pimp by the same name. Oddly, enough, I met Heidi's pimp Ivan Nagy when I was looking to rent a guest house in LA. He had a big house at the bottom of Coldwater Canyon with a small guest house that he had for rent. When I went to look at the guest house, I was ushered through the big mansion that had lifeless, nubile girls hanging about by the pool. It was an unsettling vibe and I got out of there fast.

A few years ago in NYC, I met a retired French ballerina who had danced w/ Hungarian ballet dancer Ivan Nagy. She was friends with Nagy and his ballerina wife. She said both of them were very sweet and talented dancers. She told me that Ivan had died.

R127 Doesn't know what he's talking about --- Nureyev and Baryshnikov are 2 of the greatest male ballet dancers who ever lived.

I didn't see Alexander Godunov dance. I only saw him eating alone at a cafe near my house in Beverly Glen after he had split from Jacqueline Bisset due to his heavy drinking. He seemed sad, alkie red-faced, and sullen. He died shortly after I saw him.

I saw Matthew Bourne dancing in his all-male version of " Swan Lake" in LA years ago. It was incredibly sexy. A superb ballet.

In recent years, only Polunin came close to what I used to feel in the old ABT days. But, he has a lot of emotional and addiction problems, including a tattoo fetish. Who gets a tattoo of Putin?! Polunin is burnt to a crisp right now and fighting w/ every ballet company who hired him in recent years. It's sad. He is very self-destructive.

R129 Staaaaaap. You're making us weep.

R127 - really? It was tolerated? My roommate says her grandmother told her how her gay dance partner would show up black and blue after a beating by the party goons in the middle of the night. Also, how they were often put in jail. Apparently, homosexuals were shunned by those who would have supported them too because the party would say they would stop he beatings and the jailing IF they turned informant and essentially spyed and snitched on colleagues and even family members...and no woman wanted to marry them and get entangled in such webs as the party wove.

R130 Why? I'm sorry. Because I cried about Nureyev?

A friend (who is famous and on equal footing w/ Nureyev in her creative field) knew him and so did her nephew, who worked w/ Nureyev in a different capacity. Nureyev was very nice to them both.

My ex-Bf looks very much like Nureyev. He has to have Tartar blood.

I think Baryshnikov isn't all that wealthy because he used his money to help fund other artists thru his organizations, White Oak Dance Project and Baryshnikov Arts Center. The mission statement of BAC is wonderful. He's funding lots of interesting arts projects.

R131 I believe you. And I believe the stories about the Kirov + Bolshoi ballet stars being pimped out to the donors. It is beyond sad and infuriating!

Nope, r129. Nureyev was good, but there were far better Soviet dancers among his contemporaries. Baryshnikov is not a great dancer. He was unknown in the USSR.

Other Soviet dancers didn’t tour in the West, so you never saw them to make the comparisons, assuming you know anything about ballet. Nureyev and Baryshnikov were allowed to tour as they both came from “good Soviet families”. Both of their fathers were party members.

R134 Are you Russian? Yes, I know something about ballet. I disagree with you about your low opinion of Nureveyev+Baryshinkov. The world agrees with me.

Typo: Nureyev

[quote] Other Soviet dancers didn’t tour in the West, so you never saw them to make the comparisons, assuming you know anything about ballet.

Oh Dame Margot: we ARE up on our high horse tonight, aren't we?

R127, a close family member worked in the ballet. The director of the Kirov at the time Nureyev defected was gay. Their most famous choreographer during the 1970’s and 1980’s was gay. I was present when an openly gay star from one of the republics said how much he enjoyed the “toilets” of the city, where he sought, and found, sex.

Well over half the male dancers my relative worked with were gay. They didn’t hide it.

There were gay bars in Moscow and Leningrad in the 1970’s. They weren’t official, but they did exist.

In a way, homosexuality was a way to further control artists. Sviatoslav Richter, for example, was controlled by the state because of his homosexuality.

It’s far more nuanced than you present.

Nope r137. I just know my ballet. By the way, Dame Margot is not in the same league as, say, Maya Plisetskaya.

Judge for yourselves, DLers--was Vladimir Vasiliev far more talented dancer than Nureyev as R127 states? I think not.

R172 also said, "Barishnykov was not a principal dancer in the USSR. "

172 misspelled Baryshinkov's name.

Thank God, that both Nureyev & Baryshinkov escaped from the oppressive USSR so that they could dance the way they wanted and be acknowledged for their tremendous talent and live their lives free.

Are they all fairies? Rex Harrington proposed to me one night on a little dingy boat party while we were watching fireworks. His husband didn't approve. Rex seemed a bit gay.

I’m on a phone so misspellings will occur.

I have looked at a full body of work, not a piece here or there. Nureyev was a great dancer but, for example, his pirouettes, while high, tilted. Baryshnikov just isn’t in the same league.

R139 So now you are shitting on Dame Margot ?! Yeah, right. You have to be oppositional to get attention.

R142 You are a sad sack. Many ballet dancers and experts disagree w/ your views.

Haven’t heard the name Alexander Godunov in forever. He had a role in the movie “ Witness” with Harrison Ford. He played the Amish guy who got an ice cream cone smushed in his face by one of the locals.

[quote] 172 misspelled Baryshinkov's name.

He's not the only one!

LOL

I always favored the American Ballet Theater over the NYC Ballet and Balanchine.

But, I enjoyed the documentary about Suzzane Farrell.

Was this it?

And by not really caring for Balanchine, I missed the artistry of Maria Tallchief. I like watching her dance.

About 4 or 5 years ago, I went w/a friend to Lincoln Center to see the baby ballet dancers perform in their summer program .As we arrived, the usher handed us a program, which of course we didn't read until much later.

The groups were divided into ages. The smallest dancers performed as if they were little carousel horses.

After each group performed, my friend and clapped loudly and gave them a standing ovation. We were the only ones to do it.

It was only after the whole program was over, that we read in our program, this weird message: "DO NOT APPLAUD THE DANCERS. THEY ARE LEARNING HOW TO TAKE THEIR STAGE BOWS."

What the fuck?!

We felt like rubes. But my famous entertainment friend told me, "You did right. These kids needed to hear applause. They will never forget it and it will make them feel good about their performance. Don't worry about the what the idiotic program said."

R31 - I am not proud of the behavior of many gay men here either, especially American gays in Romania. My roommate's uncle had a gay buddy at conservatory who defected to the US in the 80's and ended up making a shitload of $ in real estate in conservative Orange County. When the revolution happened in Romania he started a new "business" of bringing his "friends" from wealthy conservative American families over and marrying them to women who were a) educated in some science and b) had "trophy wife" looks. Those women were clueless and thought "wow, what a refined gentleman from AMERICA!!!" due to their naivete and married guys who used them as beards and to socially climb at the country club...real Senatrice types. My roommate's twink underling at work said how Americans stationed at the airbase would find him on Grindr, take him to dinner, have sex and then treat him like trash and be abusive and he has started avoiding them...closet cases on the airbase at Turda. I mean the kid said he wanted to hook up but to be fun and easy going, but the stories he told of his these frustrated military assholes talked to him would make me punch them in the nuts. They put their frustrations on this twink who just wanted to grab a few drinks, some pizza and said he always said he would pay his half cuz he makes good money. Terrible life.

I am R147 and I misspelled Suzanne's name. Karma always slaps me down fast. I called out the misspelling of Baryshnikov's name! lol.

R132 Your recollections are so poignant and poetically expressed. Thank you for them. You were kind to applaud the young dancers.

R131 - gay men were afraid of each other too. To be an informant meant social status so many lived celibate lives. My roommate's mom had a gorgeous art professor who everyone loved and was a very talented and sweet guy and he disappeared one night and they never saw him again until next semester. After 1989 they found out he had been turned in by another professor with whom he had a love affair for a car and he had been jailed and beaten until he got kidney damage. This because the relationship went sour as the other professor became jealous of his success at art galleries. A lot of talent in Romania's gay community was essentially wiped away by the oppression. Gay men didn't trust lesbians for marriage because they also were often threatened to rat on their "husbands" and complied for career advancement and favors.

R150 I'm trying to find the link to the documentary that I saw about Romania and how the govt spied on everyone through their neighbors.

No one can judge you or those you know on what they had to do to survive in despotic Romania.

R152 Thanks so much. I have a bit more to tell--- maybe for another time.

Recently, I discovered that one of the sons of the couple who bought my late mom's apt used to dance w/ ABT. When I saw him in the lobby, I told him had I known it earlier about his dancing w/ the ABT, I would have kidnapped him and made him tell me all the secrets about dancing at the ABT. He said, "OK! Let's go to your apt now!" He's so sweet, handsome, and darling. It was injuries that caused him to quit ABT.

R154 - very sad stories that should be told was part of gay history but the gay men and their suffering here has not been told. During the time of the Nazis, my roommate has said how her then 17 year old grandmother was going to rehearsal at the beautiful opera house here in Cluj and the front was cordoned off. It was freezing and icy through the back entrance and she decided to try her luck and go through the front anyway and she saw how the Jewish and two gay artists had essentially been stripped naked and were forced to pour salt on the icy pavement at gunpoint by the German army. Just traumatic and the young woman cried for days after seeing that. All those artists were taken away to a brickyard and never heard from again.

So upsetting. R156.

What is Cluj?

I have heard so many devastating stories by friends, ex-BF, and in-laws about the deadly + cruelty committed during WW2. It went thru all religions - Russian Orthodox, Polish Catholic, Czech Jew, French Resistance.

It is very strange that here we are debating Nureyev's pirouettes when I , and perhaps many of us, have trouble getting out of bed due to the menacing mindfuck of Covid-19.

I only wish I had Rudy's body and stamina.

I'd settle for George Zoritch.

If you think you can create something better in opera, musical theater, acting, dance, art, writing, or another artistic endeavor, then do it.

It is easy to criticize others. It's much more difficult to actually do the work to create something and it out in the world,.

R160 typo: put it out in the world.

HIV/AIDS wiped out an entire generation or two of male dancers, and other artistic talent. Huge amount of creative talent left us starting in 1980's leaving voids not just in performing arts but fashion, entertainment, media....

You couldn't pick up a copy of Dance Magazine back then without one or more obituaries or death notices, sometimes dancer was on cover such as passing of Clark Tippet in 1992.

It wasn't just ballet, but jazz/Broadway suffered losses as well. Remember watching a television program (PBS?) about Broadway musicals and George Hearn (I think) who was starring in La Cage aux Folles in 1982 spoke about how suddenly chorus boys began disappearing . One by one they left show due to illness (HIV/AIDS) and never returned.

Stifling lack of creativity in 1990's until now really reflects that empty void left by those taken away by HIV/AIDS.

More

Hell, yes! I lost a Broadway dancer friend to AIDS. At the time, not much was known. It was shocking. Unreal. I will never, ever forget it.

And now Covid-19 might be doing the same thing. Nick Cordero's lingering death is a warning.

R164

Not "might", but is, though on a much smaller scale (thank God).

R153/R156: how nice to see a poster here from Romania! I've enjoyed your posts, very interesting. You seem like a great guy.

As ballet and opera afictiandos are wont to do; let's go to video tape comparison....

Four ‘Don Quixote’ solos - Baryshnikov (1969), Vasiliev (1969), Lavrovsky (1974), Mukamedov (1988)

Nureyev doing same variation....

Actually have a VHS copy of Nureyev & Makarova Giselle. Got it several years ago at local thrift shop still wrapped in original plastic.

Prefer the 1977 ABT version with Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov .

Documentary about RN I highly recommend!

Thank you to all that so graciously shared a piece of the Rudolf’s world.

Vasiliev, Bruhn, Baryshnikov (whom I saw in London at a Gala just BEFORE he defected), and the lamented and too soon gone Valery Panov were all better dancers than Nureyev.

Baryshnikov himself said that Erik Bruhn was a far better dancer, but the world wouldn't remember it, even though within the ballet world, Bruhn himself was a superstar. But he never became a household word outside of it.

Nureyev was a wonderful dancer but not a "compleat" dancer in the sense the others were. And he was a total stage animal.

I never saw anything like (in my lifetime) the young Baryshnikov who was not only astonishing but seemed to be astonishing effortlessly.

The planet was certainly richer for having all of them.

I’m still amazed he made that much money - more than Baryshnikov ever made. Or maybe he just invested well in real estate - which went through a boom in the 80s before he died. Seems like he spent liberally - but still died rich. A full life. Not one I would have wanted - or could have ever had - but I respect it.

I think arguing about Nureyev is absurd. He was brilliant. But if you are going to compare him to traditional classical ballet of his time you're missing the point. He was unique as a dancer. Totally unique. And he was brilliant. He was so much more than a dancer. He revolutionized classical ballet. Everything changed because of him. Not just his dancing style, but the way he re defined the role of male dancers, the costuming, the staging, the sets, the music, the choreography, And to the person who was fortunate enough to see him at the Hollywood bowl, and was sad because he couldn't leap and take flight, I believe he was in his 40's by then? He was only 54 when he died in 1993. He tested positive in the mid- late 80's and attempted to completely ignore the disease that killed him, but the last two years he was in and out of hospitals.

Rudolf as a guest on The Dame Edna Experience.

R170, THANK YOU!!!! This BBC documentary is just gorgeous.

R169...I think Martine Van Hamel does the best Myrtha I have ever seen. When her variation begins at the beginning of the second act, she seems to be floating across the stage. That whole section of the ballet is my favorite part.

I preferred the City Ballet when Balanchine was running it. Outside of the Nutcracker EVERY performance was an event. There would always be at least one ballet on the program that you felt had changed your life no matter how many times you had seen it before. Except for the all Robbins programs. Now when I see them advertise all Balanchine programs I think to myself is this a joke?

But ABT was quite wonderful as well. I still am staggered by how culturally rich the city was back then and how damn cheap it all was. And yes even for the time. There were donors who happily and generously funded these companies.

Edward Gorey would have agreed with you [R178]

He was an angel, a gift from Heaven.

He was murdered with AZT, etc., by the same satanists who locked you up recently and are busy making your 'vaccine'

We shall visit his grave in the Russian Cemetery in Paris next month and say a prayer for him.

I wish I had realized his grave was in Paris when I was there 8 years ago. If I ever get back there I will definitely go see it.

R174

RN didn't attempt to "completely ignore" his HIV/AIDS diagnoses; but rather fought the disease in his own way, managing to live about 15 years after diagnoses, and completing much of what he wanted to finish before leaving this earth.

Nureyev did things his way which may have seemed quietly to others, but he had very good reasons. Had RN come out with his diagnoses and so forth he feared (and rightly so) doors would have been shut, especially international travel to places like USA.

There was also no small amount of hate and or discrimination against gay men diagnosed with HIV/AIDS at that time. Those once considered one's friends vanished or otherwise wouldn't come near. For RN like Rock Hudson, Liberace, Tony Perkins and many other famous gay men of the time publicly coming out with diagnosis of HIV also offically outed them as gay men. Yes, people knew, suspected or whatever prior, but that is different than having actual official confirmation.

IMHO far better Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, danced by Marie-Agnès Gillot and Nicolas Le Riche .

How many hundreds, exponentially thousands of people did he infect with HIV? We'll never know. Artistic accomplishment aside, he was a selfish PIG and a terrible human being. AIDS was not new in 1993. But his hole was still open for all takers.

R184

Nureyev died in 1993, he was infected some 15 years prior.

From above linked NYT article:

"Dr. Canesi told Le Figaro that Nureyev was afraid of revealing his illness before his death because he thought it might limit his career. The dancer learned that he had H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, in 1984, when he was still much in demand around the world. He was concerned that some countries, mainly the United States, might refuse him entry if he were known to be H.I.V. positive."

RN could have been infected two, three, four, five or more years before testing proved positive. Nureyev was up for it all the time; bathhouses, toilets, in the bushes..... The mind boggles at numbers he could have infected before testing positive, and afterwards until his visible decline in health might have warned potential hook-ups off.

Does the Ralph Fiennes film actually acknowledge his homosexuality or any male love interests?

R186 yes, with Teja Kremke. Allegedly it was his first male lover.

The Fiennes movie shows him having an affair with the wife of his Ballet teacher which is true it happened. But he was like 17 at the time. As he discovered sex he became promiscuous but definitely preferred men. The movie shows him with his German lover at the Ballet school. Beautiful young boy. Great dancer too. Later his relationship with Clara Saint as shown in the movie was platonic. They were close but not sexual. They remained friends for many years.

BTW In the documentary from the BBC it was confirmed that a person could get 7 years in prison for being caught engaging in a homosexual behavior.

R188 have you read Kavanagh’s book? If no, PLEASE read it! Extremely well written and researched.

R1 Your seeing eye dog needs glasses.

R12 AS IF he needed to leave a theatre full of willing young dancers to find a dick to suck!

In costume and full makeup? Doubt it. R12

R192

For male ballet dancers then and now, both performing and at classes "costume" is usually nothing more than some sort of top and tights. Anyone who has danced, studied ballet, or whatever can tell you male ballet dancers/students are and were famous for simply throwing a pair of jeans or trousers over their tights. Add some sort of footwear, pull-over and maybe a coat/jacket and perhaps scarf, and you were good to go...

Many male ballet students or dancers for various reasons went to and from class (maybe even rehearsals) with tights under their pants. Plenty of those dance studios in old Carnegie Hall for instance studios didn't have dressing rooms, showers, etc... You "changed" right there in studio.

R189, I have read it, and I'm looking at it on my book shelf as I type. It is wonderful. I thought the movies was very true to the book about the early part of his life. I watched an interview with Ralph Fiennes and he said someone sent him the first 6 chapters of the book and he felt so attracted to it that he was compelled (actors!) to make the movie. David Hare also said that Nureyev's public life once he became a superstar has been covered a lot, but he was intrigued by his early life.

Wasn't 1995 the breakthrough year for AIDS treatment? If only Nureyev could have held on a couple more years . . .

R195

Yes, FDA approved first protease inhibitor in 1995 which began era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

Year 1993 was sort of mixed on HIV/AIDs front; besides Nureyev Arthur Ashe also died of the disease. Those two famous persons were among the nearly 37 thousand who died in USA alone from HIV/AIDS related illnesses.

Elsewhere in world a three year study in in Europe confirmed AZT did not prevent HIV infections from becoming AIDS.

On entertainment front Tom Hanks won an Oscar for his role in film "Philadelphia" about a gay man suffering from AIDS.

R184

Why single out RN? Scores if not hundreds of other gay men (famous or not) were doing exactly same thing. Not everyone was lining up to be tested and if positive followed safe sex rules.

Nureyev was a ditch pig. It has nothing to do with sex or attraction when you behave the way he did. He was compulsive and relentless. In the bushes, in the stalls many times back and forth to the Ramble a day and every night on the road some bathhouse around the world saw his gaping holes. He wasn't about having relationships, sex or even feeling lust. Just a self loathing animal who could never get his fill of dick attention. And he knew his STATUS. In 1990 if you were having hundreds of unsafe sexual encounters a week, knowing you had AIDS - you deserved to die.

R198 He was probably self-loathing because of his upbringing, Russia is notoriously homophobic.

If you believe the stories Teja Kremke (a young East Berliner living in Leningrad)and Nureyev met in 1959 and almost at once became lovers. The young Kremke helped convince is lover that his talents would never be allowed to fully flourish in Soviet Union.

When Kirov ballet tour was announced in 1961 RN's name was a last minute addition to the list (after much insistence from French), the rest is history.

After his defection Nureyev rang up his lover to get Kremke to join him in France. Kremke vacillated and within days the Berlin Wall went up so he couldn't get out, period. For rest of his young life Kremke was hounded by Stasi which likely fueled his turning to drinking heavily, then a sudden death at age 37 under "suspicious circumstances".

As noted elsewhere in this thread it was largely thanks to writer Julie Kavanagh who while researching Nureyev's life for her book unearthed Teja Kremke.

That poor man and his family were made to pay for what amounted to a brief dalliance young Mr. Kremke had with Nureyev. Soviet Union and Communist party couldn't lay hands on RN, so they made every single person remotely connected to him in Russia their sphere of influence pay dearly.

We have a special European connectia with Nureyev, which we shall not reveal here. His presence is with us at times. Next month at his tomb we shall ask his help with certain decisias we must make.

And perhaps Miss r198 - a bitter, angry and hateful queen - will die soon.

Nureyev's promiscuity was one of the issues that doomed his relationship with Erik Bruhn, who was 1) a fastidious sort, and at the same time emotionally elusive. Nureyev was both promiscuous and extremely possessive, and that is how he drove off Bruhn, who was offstage extremely private.

I don't think Nureyev was incapable of passionate love but I do think he was incapable of fidelity.

Ralph Fiennes Has had an interesting romantic life himself.

R199 Rudolf was never self-loathing. As one of his friends, principal dancer at the Royal Ballet, Christopher Gable pointed out: 'There was a tradition in my generation of dancers that you had to be really heterosexual onstage, because you had to prove that you weren't 'one of those,' Rudolf wasn't inhibited by any of that. He was completely comfortable with his sexuality and his sexual orientation and he had no interest in anything other than expressing the music and the choreography in the way that seemed appropriate to him.'

It is said that Nureyev also fucked fish!

Dear Mr. Gable...

and...

R178 NYCB was Balanchine but ABT is always better for watching the hot male dancers. They weren't showcased to the same extent at NYCB, mostly partnering, more about the women as per Balanchine's preference. I prefer Balanchine's choreography too, but I enjoy the spectacle at ABT

they both skew heavily gay now. that guy -Adrien?? danchig warring(??) is hot, slightly too heavy in the thighs but very nice

"Now when I see them advertise all Balanchine programs I think to myself is this a joke?" how do you mean exactly? what should they program instead?

All this discussion about Nureyev and no one has posted this yet?

Gable was in THE MUSIC LOVERS with Richard Chamberlain as Tchaikovsky’s lover.

R210 because the NYCB was all Balanchine all the time. They would have never advertised an all Balanchine program because everybody knew that was what you mostly got and were going to get. And that's what you wanted. Let's say a program were 2 Robbins ballets and 1 Balanchine unless the Balanchine was a not to be missed cast you most likely would not have gone and if it were an 'All Robbins Program' you avoided it like the plague. The world's longest ballets were not any of the three or four act full length ballets but Dances at a Gathering or The Goldberg Variations.

Peter Martins will go down in history as destroying one of the great artistic institutions of the 20th Century. Karma attacking him like a ravenous shark was a joy to behold.

R213, very interesting. Ive never liked Robbins ballets but I thought it was just me. I thought he was popular enough while he was alive?

I've heard Martins "straightened out" NYCB, as much as he was able to--not promoting gay dancers or what have you. Ive only seen him in videos but he was 1) an excellent dancer 2) luscious

What do you think of NYCB dancing now vs then? I wasn't alive at the time but I've always been curious if it has really gone down in quality

Robbins did have his fans but next to Balanchine in terms of ballet he was a piker. His greatness was in musical theater. There he was incomparable.

Martins was a very handsome man who liked nothing better than to walk around the stage marking the steps and communicating 'I am so beautiful, don't you think?' People put up with him because he was a great partner to Suzanne Farrell. I saw him many times on stage but I really only saw him dance once. It was shortly before his retirement and he gave a magnificent performance in Diamonds which was always the ballerina's ballet. But Farrell had canceled and Merrill Ashley(one of the great Balanchine dancers) had taken on the role. Unfortunately it was not in her body and she was slightly but noticeably tentative. Martins took over the stage like a lion and for once he danced full out. I thought 'he really he is a great dancer so where has he been all these years?' A truly arrogant putz who had so much more to give and didn't.

Today's dancers are fine. They do the dances with speed, sharpness and precision but they're not Balanchine. There's nothing there for those of us who know. Arlene Croce said it best when watching Chaconne with Wendy Whalen which was one of Farrell's great role, 'This great galleon of a ballet has been turned into a paper sailboat.' That pretty much in a nutshell is what happened to City Ballet under Martins. There is a terrific article by the writer Joan Acocella for The New Yorker on what happened to the company under Martins. The NY Times let this artistic catastrophe happen without a murmur because Martins was endlessly sucking up to its dance critic Anne Kisselgoff who creamed at his every glance.

I feel privileged to have seen Balanchine's ballets rehearsed by him and danced by his dancers. They were momentous events.

[quote]Robbins did have his fans but next to Balanchine in terms of ballet he was a piker. His greatness was in musical theater. There he was incomparable.

Yes, r215, you are entirely correct. Your other reminiscences beyond Robbins in his own sphere seem to indicate how aware you are to have worked in the presence of genius.

OT but i love the story of Fancy Free being inspired by a PWA painting that was considered so licentious that the Navy suppressed it from public view for years.

Back in the 1970s there was a huge explosion of interest in ballet in the public sphere. What had been considered a niche art suddenly became mainstream, as evidenced by the the film The Turning Point.

One critic who had been reviewing ballet since the 1920s was asked what he thought about the then contemporary talent against decades previously. He replied

"The technique has improved but not the artistry."

I thought it was Terry Teachout but a google search reveals that he is too young to have said that in the 1970s. But whoever it was, I never forgot the comment.

"The technique has improved but not the artistry."