Rudolph Nureyev: The name conjures up many images of both a man and dancer who influenced many facets of classical and contemporary dance. There are the images of the young boy, born in poverty in Russia’s Ural region; the late but promising start at the Kirov ballet school; the highly publicized defection to the west at a Paris airport in 1961; the celebrated partnership with the Royal Ballet’s Margot Fonteyn; and finally succumbing to death brought on by the HIV virus at the age of 54 in 1993. Along the way, he changed the way the male dancer was presented on stage, transforming him from a prop to an equal performing partner, though with a fury, energy and sexuality never before seen.


That legacy has certainly been captured in many films that have explored both his life and dancing genius. However, in all of the films created to date, not one has attempted to reveal Nureyev’s story through the medium which he emboldened, namely dance itself. While the films have narrated the dramatic threads of his volatile and colourful life through interviews, archival footage and performance sequences, there has never been a film where the nuances of his life were captured in choreography especially created for film. “Nureyev” is the first-ever response to that challenge, creating a unique film dramatization that is created primarily through dance.

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