News Clippings '60

Atlantic Monthly June 1960 P. 104	"Nureyev has extraordinary natural talent. The height, the length, and the timing of his jumps are phenomenal. The vigorous whirling movements are thrilling. Nureev's nervous, somewhat exalted artistic constitution lends to everything he does an unprecedented, original character. His Albert is unlike anyone's we have ever seen ... The main theme of the ballet comes clear to us in Nureev's meaningful dancing." From "Talent and the Ballet" by Yuri Slonimsky ("Russia's foremost critic of the dance").
Ballet Annual #15 p. 136 58-59 season Nureyev - one of 8 premier danseurs	"First among the young we should mention Rudolf Nureyev, a dancer of phenomenal natural line and abilities. His body is a wonderful instrument for creating a sculptured image, and that, as is known, is the foundation of choreography." From "Cradle of the Russian Ballet" by Yuri Slonimsky,
May 16 - 30, 1961 Paris	Kirov at Paris Opera - Rudolf Nureyev danced Giselle and extracts from The Nutcracker and from Taras Bulba. Observer: "was the sensation of the company's Paris season." Universite de la Danse awarded the 1961 Nijinsky Prize to Nureyev while Kirov was in Paris (Serge Lifar, director of the Paris Opera Ballet and a member of the voting board: "In my opinion Nureyev and Serge Golovin are the two best dancers in the world.")
Observer 6/16/61	Russian newspapers did not carry any mention of the defection of Rudolf Nureyev. Even Russian authorities describe him as a great dancer with a brilliant future... in his street clothes -- tight trousers and sweater - and 'forward-cut' hair he could be mistaken for an English art student ... he speaks good English (... not a word of French) and was much looking forward to his visit to London. Like others in the company, he is something of an Anglophile... Evidently he did not fit into the ensemble to easily: he has been criticized for having failed .. to learn that the leading role is only part of the artistic whole to which even the most gifted premier danseur must subordinate his individuality ... his style is ... the kind which has been associated with Leningrad ... possessing a striking elegance and authority. To this he adds superb technique and a compelling dramatic power. He is one of those lucky performers who have only to walk on to the stage to command it." (noted "startling new interpretation" of Florimund -- foppish wit and royal disdain)
New York Times 6/17/61	Mr. Nureyev, who has been with the Kirov Ballet Corps for ten years, was promoted to lead male dancer a year ago. It was understood that the Russian had come to Paris with the idea of defecting and had discussed his plans with certain French friends.
Sunday Times 6/18/61	At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, ... the theory gained ground that Serge Lifar, director of the Paris Opera, was almost certainly -- if unwittingly -- involved in Nureyev's decision to seek asylum in France ... The ballet world now believes that Nureyev deserted his company because he hoped for a more glittering future in France under Lifar's guidance. Note: No confirmation or denial by either Nureyev or Lifar.
New York Times 6/20/61	Rudolf Nureyev hired by International Ballet of the Marquis de Cuevas. "Unofficial reports said Mr. Nureyev would be drawing a salary of about 30,000 francs ($6,000) a month -- among the top salaries in Europe for a male ballet dancer." (Also reported in Dance Magazine July 1961). "Claude Giraud, administrator of the de Cuevas troupe, said 'rehearsals would be held in a secret hideout. Dancers like Nureyev don't need very many rehearsals,' he added.
Express 6/23/61	"They went wild over the Russian who took 30 curtain calls... The applause lasted 15 minutes. The audience had howled its bravos as he went through a breathtaking series of leaps and whirls. They brought him four curtain calls in the middle of the third act... Dozens of police guarded the theatre --- The reception he was given brought tears to his eyes on the stage. The theatre was bursting with people who wanted to see Rudolf. For many it was their first visit to a ballet."
New York Times (Schonberg) 6/25/61	"...like those who have been trained in his school, he is altogether athletic in his dancing. He can go up in the air and hang there... his technique is superb -- clean beats in his entrechats six; double cabrioles and rondes de jambe executed by the book... a dancer well on his way to genuine stardom. And he does have the one thing no premier danseur can be without: a personality that comes right over the footlights. when he is on stage, everybody in the audience knows that somebody with a commanding presence is at work."
Ned Schnurman 7/3/61	6/30/61 - SOVIET DANCER WHO DEFECTED CAUSES NEAR RIOT IN THEATER "Programs were showered down from the galleries, and several paper bombs filled with pepper his the stage at Nureyev's feet... other members of the audience began to shout encouragement... Most of the audience was on its feet. The orchestra struggled on, unheard by anyone. Through all of this, the dance continued. The dance sequence, which normally takes about 3 minutes, took 15... Nureyev himself admitted to being upset by the incident."
Dancing Times Arnold L. Haskell 8/61	"A Sorry Affair: Balletomane's Log Book" "I am assuming ... that RN is not a true political refugee but a young man who acted on an impulse...If that ... is the case, then it is merely the not uncommon matter of a breach of contract... In one sense the dancer in Russian enjoys greater freedom that in any other country...I fear that he is in for a grave disappointment when he ceases to be a nine days' wonder and when he finds less freedom to express himself as a dancer than in his own country...the dancer said that he wanted to be free to express himself. This he is doing by dancing in the Cuevas instead of the Kirov Sleeping Beauty... Another lesson emerges from this sorry affair. The free-lance dancer, permanently removed from the discipline and background of his school and tradition, rapidly deteriorates. The star needs the company far more than the company needs the star."
Dancing Times Bland Responds to Haskell 9/61	Alexander Bland - Letters to the Editor: "A Sorry Affair-Indeed!" "May I suggest that Mr. Haskell pays a visit to Berlin and delivers his little lecture to the refugees who are pouring over from East Germany letting sides down...He might repeat his jibe about Nureyev leaving the Kirov for the inferior de Cuevas company. The rows of men who have given up highly-paid professional posts and are now scraping along with what jobs they can get would no doubt join in a hearty laugh." (Note: Contract with de Cuevas expired December 1961.) Visited Denmark - studied with Vera Volkova.
10/01/61 Frankfurt	First western TV appearance. Was paid $4,000 (Dance Mag. 3/62). Artistic supervisor: Vaslav Orlikovky (Dir. of Basle Ballet). Nureyev was accompanied by "current companion" Maria Tallchief. Also danced Spectre de la Rose.
Show Bus. Illustrated 10/31/61 Interview with Orlikovsky	"In Paris, Bronislava Nijinska...exclaimed: "he is the reincarnation of by brother"...Nureyev right now seems to be his own worst enemy. Not on stage. There he is disciplined. He practices more than any other dancer I've ever seen...He is the most ambitious man I've ever encountered, the perfect perfectionist. But off the stage...so moody! So hard to get along with! One never knows where one stands with him...At night...he sits silently in his hotel room, permitting Maria Tallchief to massage his feet, and no one can utter a word while the phonograph goes full blast:...Mozart...Brahms...Tristan and Isolde, and that endless Symphony Divine by Scriabin...No one knows what he really thinks, what he really likes. All he seems concerned with is that expensive movie camera and the golden Swiss watch...He is always afraid that those...will be stolen...He is a boy, but a complicated one...Nothing impresses him but his own perfection...I love him. But he is going to have such troubles in his life."
Show Bus. Illustrated 10/31/61 Interview with Nureyev By Franz Spelman	"In Leningrad I was just one of the 10 solo dancers, and one of the youngest at that. In Russia no one attains anything until he is well in the middle of his thirties. It may be that I'm too impatient. But I felt it was unbearable that I would have to wait for another 15 years until I was given all the opportunities, before I could be myself, before I could dance more than two to three times each month.. What I've seen of France I didn't like very much. I didn't like the way in which I was dished up as a sensation, and I resented the public curiosity about everything concerning my person. Above all, I didn't like the way the Cuevas people dressed me up like a Christmas tree...In Russia, art is taken far more seriously, the artists command more respect. Audiences are better in Russia. For them, the ballet is a major experience in their lives - or a major escape...In Europe, though, art still remains very much the privilege of the wealthy. But this, despite all the flippancy and the amateurishness and the commercial exploitation, is compensated for by the liberties which are offered. In Russia...the real creative person is...bound to arrive at a position where he just can't develop further. This is perhaps the advantage of the West which counts most...I'm on my way to see the people of the Danish Ballet. Later...to London...to New York. Of course I would like to work under a man like Balanchine. An I certainly would like to appear at Covent Garden...I don't want to be considered as a freak, or as a curiosity."
11/02/61	Bland: "The savage intensity with which he flung himself into his first solo...produced the shock of seeing a wild animal let loose in a drawing room...
Sunday Times 11/12/61 Richard Buckle	"Rudolf Nureyev should certainly join the Royal Ballet. He would find there a discipline similar to that of the Russian State theatres, and one which is necessary to him; for, being a wild one, he is not the type to discipline himself. The competition would be good for our male dancers. Ashton is clearly a choreographer to bring out, develop and use his marvellous qualities: and Nureyev is a dancer who could inspire Ashton with sublime romantic inventions."
July 12, 1967 San Francisco Raid on party	Rudolf Nureyev was performing at the San Francisco Opera House in the summer of 1967, along with his longtime partner, the British Royal Ballet's Dame Margot Fonteyn. Police started arresting people after responding to noise complaints at the Belvedere address where they found people smoking pot. The story goes that Nureyev, unaware of the presence of cops, swung into the front room from a window and announced that, with his arrival, the party could begin in earnest. A dozen joints were confiscated and 18 people were arrested including Nureyev and an official with the Seattle Opera. After the charges against Nureyev were dropped, hundreds of hippies danced in front of the Opera House on Van Ness Avenue to celebrate Nureyev and Fonteyn.