He is undoubtedly the most famous classical dancer of the 20th century. Rudolf Nureyev made his mark on this art, first as a dancer, then as a choreographer and director of ballet. Wednesday, Christophe Hondelatte looks back on his childhood and his beginnings until his arrival in France, in 1961, where he asks for political asylum.
Music as an escape. "It has an atrocious memory of his childhood," announces Ariane Dollfus, journalist and translator of the autobiography of the dancer, at the microphone of Europe 1. The first years of Rudolf Nureyev were indeed very difficult. He was 3 years old, in 1941, when his father was mobilized for the Second World War. His mother finds herself alone, very poor, with three children on her arms.
The young Rudolf will spend much of his childhood in Ufa, Bashkortostan, in the west of Russia. He lives with his uncle, with his mother and sisters. In total, they are three families in 9 square meters. His mother sells braces and boots to allow his children to eat. Radio is his only escape. With music as the only friend to escape a bit of everyday sadness.
Dancer against his father. The click occurs at age 7, when his mistress teaches him how to dance. He likes it right away. So when for the New Year, his mother buys a place for the National Opera of Ufa and he enters this sublime golden palace, he is convinced: the dance will be his life.
The encounter that will change everything, he owes it to the Pionners (Young Communists), with whom he practices folk dance in amateur groups. It is through this intermediary that he meets Anna Oudeltsova. Some piano notes, some steps done ... She knows: Rudolf Nureyev has a gift and he must exploit it, according to her. The boy will then work. First with her, then with Elena Vaitovich. Nureyev is 11 years old.
But on the side of the family, it stuck. Her father refuses "to have a ballerina at home". He wants Rudolf to be a soldier, a doctor or an engineer. "Nureyev's father wanted his son to rise socially and have a 'reassuring profession'," explains Ariane Dollfus. Rudolf Nureyev is forced to hide to train and dance.
He was 17 when he ended up joining the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg (Leningrad at the time). He knows he has to work hard, he is late. His comrades do not fail to remind him, making fun of his lack of technique. Rudolf Nureyev works. Again. Tirelessly. And ends up attracting the attention of his teacher, Alexander Pushkin. Everything then goes pretty fast. Rudolf Nureyev begins to chase the main roles in Swan Lake , The Nutcracker or Giselle . In the process, when he was 20 years old, he was offered two solo places: one in Moscow, one in Leningrad. He chooses the second option: the Kirov of Leningrad is less rigid, more sophisticated, less controlled than the ballet of Moscow.
"The black sheep of Kirov ballet". In Kirov, he also plays the leading roles in the greatest ballet performances. At the same time that his talent grows, his character becomes hardened. Rudolf Nureyev is very individualistic, and does not hide it. "He was odious because he thought only of his success, by desire for perfection," says journalist Ariane Dollfus. If he argues with his teachers and his classmates, does not participate in group activities, he has no friends, Rudolf Nureyev does not care.
In 1961, the Kirov planned a tour in Europe, with a passage through Paris. He flies away with all his comrades, but he is closely watched. On the spot, his hours spent at the Louvre, at Montmartre, his nocturnal outings, annoy the Russian authorities at the most. So that the chopper falls after a month in the French capital: Nureyev will not go to London with the rest of the ballet. He must go back to Moscow. But Rudolf Nureyev does not want to go home. Worse, he fears for his future and is not sure that the authorities will one day let him dance again, he "the black sheep of Kirov ballet". "Nureyev was thirsty to live, to learn ... (...) In his childhood, he had lived with a permanent lack," analyzes Ariane Dollfus.
So, when he has to leave for Russia, at the Bourget airport, he goes to the French authorities and makes a request for political asylum to France, after having escaped the KGB guards who were watching him. Rudolf Nureyev officially moves to the West. A new life. Another story.
>> Find below the complete Hondelatte Raconte , "Rudolf Nureyev" with Ariane Dollfus: