In 2018, the Paris Opera Ballet paid tribute to Rudolf Nureyev, who was the Opera's Director of Dance from 1983 to 1989. The choreographer, who would have turned 80 that year, profoundly marked the history of the repertoire he enriched with his great ballets, from Don Quichotte in 1981 to La Bayadère in 1992. More than two decades after his departure from the Opéra and his death, the young Tatar, who made France his home, remains wonderfully present within the Compagnie and his works, still very much alive.
Parisian audiences discovered Rudolf Nureyev in May 1961 when the Kirov Theatre Ballet came on tour. The dancer took his first steps on the Palais Garnier stage in the role of the Prince in Sleeping Beauty. Success was immediate. From that moment on, strong links were forged between Nureyev and the Opéra national de Paris, who invited him to take part in numerous performances of its Compagnie de danse.
Rudolf Nureyev rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty (1961) by INAOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Nureyev and Noëlla Pontois (1974-10) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Nureyev (Apollon) in Apollon Musagete (1974-11) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Nureyev in Giselle (1979-02) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
A hard worker with rare talent and an extraordinary personality, Nureyev impressed on stage, playing roles in both classical and modern ballets.
Rudolf Nureyev and Noëlla Pontois (1983-02) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
But also at the barre during the classes he continues to attend every day.
Manfred
In 1979, Nureyev created his first choreography for the Paris Opera Ballet: Manfred.
Rudolf Nureyev and Florence Clerc in "Manfred" (1979) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Don Quichotte
Don Quichotte was created by Marius Petipa in Moscow in 1869. The ballet, inspired by the novel by Cervantes, tells the story of the thwarted love of Kitri and Basilio. Rudolf Nureyev first danced Don Quixote at the Kirov Theatre in 1960, making it one of his signature roles. He remounted it in 1966 for the Vienna Opera Ballet. This production entered the repertoire of the Ballet de l'Opéra national de Pairs in 1981, at the request of Rosella Hightower, then Director of Dance
Rudolf Nureyev in Don Quixote (1981) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Noureev and Noëlla Pontois in "Don Quixote" (1981) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Nureyev and Noëlla Pontois in Don Quixote (1981) by INAOpéra national de Paris
Audric Bezard, Valentine Colasante and the Paris Opera Ballet in "Don Quixote" (2017) by Svetlana Loboff / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Alice Renavand (Kitri) in "Don Quixote" (2017) by Svetlana Loboff / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Don Quixote by Rudolf Nureyev (Ludmila Pagliero) (2012) by OnPOpéra national de Paris
Ludmila Pagliero, Dorothée Gilbert and Amandine Albisson in "Don Quixote" (2017) by Svetlana Loboff / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Don Quixote by Rudolf Nureyev (Alice Renavand) (2017) by OnPOpéra national de Paris
Raymonda
On February 4, 1982, Rudolf Nureyev was appointed Director of Dance at the Opéra national de Paris. He took up his post in September 1983, inaugurating the season and his debut with Ballet Raymonda. This was followed by six classic ballets that remain top of the bill to this day: Romeo and Juliet (1984), Swan Lake (1984), The Nutcracker (1985), Cinderella (1986), Sleeping Beauty (1989) and La Bayadère (1992).
Elisabeth Platel and Charles Jude in "Raymonda" (1983) by Colette Masson / Roger-ViolletOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Nureyev in Raymonda (1983) by INAOpéra national de Paris
Marie-Agnès Gillot and José Martinez in "Raymonda" (2008)Opéra national de Paris
Raymonda by Rudolf Nureyev (Marie-Agnès Gillot) (2008) by OnPOpéra national de Paris
Romeo and Juliette
Serguei Prokofiev's score, inspired in 1938 by William Shakespeare's play, gave rise to countless ballets, including MacMillan's 1965 version, which Rudolf Nureyev performed with Margot Fonteyn. Nureyev choreographed his own version in 1977 for the London Festival Ballet, and reworked it in 1984 for inclusion in the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet.
Patrick Dupond and Monique Loudières in "Romeo and Juliet" (1974) by Colette Masson / Roger-ViolletOpéra national de Paris
The Paris Opera Ballet in "Romeo and Juliet" (2016) by Julien Benhamou / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Myriam Ould-Braham (Juliette) in "Romeo and Juliet" (2016) by Julien Benhamou / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Swan Lake
Rudolf Nureyev danced Swan Lake with Margot Fonteyn in 1963, then with the stars of the Paris Opera Ballet, Noëlla Pontois and Claire Motte. In the version he presented in 1984 at the Palais Garnier, he offered a "Freudian" re-reading of Petipa and Lev Ivanov's ballet: Prince Siegfried escapes the reality of power and marriage to take refuge in dreams, where he appears to a magical lake bearing the idealized love of a swan-woman.
Rudolf Nureyev (The Prince Siegfried) in "Swan Lake" (1984) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Nureyev (Rothbart) in "Swan Lake" (1987) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Nureyev and the Paris Opera Ballet in "Swan Lake" (1984) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Élisabeth Platel and Charles Jude in "Swan Lake" (1984)Opéra national de Paris
Mathias Heymann and the Paris Opera Ballet in "Swan Lake" (2016) by Svetlana Loboff / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Amandine Albisson and Mathieu Ganio in "Swan Lake" (2016) by Svetlana Loboff / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Swan Lake by Rudolf Nureyev at the Paris Opera (2016) by OnPOpéra national de Paris
The Nutcracker
Rudolf Nureyev danced The Nutcracker as a student at the Vaganova School, then as a young dancer at the Kirov, in versions very close to Marius Petipa's ballet. He remounted the ballet in 1967 for the Royal Ballet of Sweden and the Royal Ballet of London, for the Ballet de la Scala in Milan the following year, and for the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1971 and in Berlin in 1979.
The Nutcracker by Rudolf Nureyev (2014) by OnPOpéra national de Paris
Monique Loudières (Clara) in "The Nutcracker" (1985) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Laurent Hilaire in "The Nutcracker" (1985) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Germain Louvet and the students of the Paris Opera's Ballet School in "The Nutcracker" (2014) by Sébastien Mathé / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Cinderella
When Rudolf Nureyev created Cinderella, the work was unprecedented at the Paris Opera. Unlike the great classical repertoire, the story of the young orphan was new to the Palais Garnier. He therefore chose to cast it in a new light, making no reference to any previous choreography. He transposes Perrault's tale to the Hollywood world of the 1930s.
Rudolf Nureyev with Cinderella's casting (1987) by Colette Masson / Roger-ViolletOpéra national de Paris
Agnès Letestu and the Paris Opera Ballet in "Cinderella" (2011) by Sébastien Mathé / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty belongs to the "grand spectacle" ballets choreographed by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Theatre of St. Petersburg. Premiered in 1890, it marked the beginning of his fruitful collaboration with composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In his first staging of Sleeping Beauty, at La Scala in Milan in 1966, Rudolf Nureyev took Petipa's original choreography and introduced his own arrangements.
Élisabeth Maurin in "The Sleeping Beauty" (1989) by Colette Masson / Roger-ViolletOpéra national de Paris
Josua Hoffalt and Ludmila Pagliero in "The Sleeping Beauty" (2013) by Sébastien Mathé / OnPOpéra national de Paris
The Sleeping Beaty by Rudolf Nureyev (Marie-Agnès Gillot) (1999) by OnPOpéra national de Paris
La Bayadère
La Bayadère was revealed in Paris in May 1961 for the first with Rudolf Nureyev. Rudolf Nureyev remounted the piece at London's Royal Ballet in 1963, then at the Opéra national de Paris in 1974. The production he presented at the Palais Garnier in October 1992 was the first complete, three-act version of La Bayadère ever danced in France. It was his last creation, three months before his death.
La Bayadère by Rudolf Nureyev (2015) by OnPOpéra national de Paris
The Paris Opera Ballet in the 3rd Act dans l’acte III of "La Bayadère" (2015) by Little Shao / OnPOpéra national de Paris
The Paris Opera Ballet in the 3rd Act of "La Bayadère" (1992) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Noëlla Pontois and Rudolf Noureev in La Bayadère (1974) by Angelo Melilli / Roger-ViolletOpéra national de Paris
Wilfried Romoli (The Golden Idol) in "La Bayadère" (1992) by Francette Levieux / OnPOpéra national de Paris
François Alu in "La Bayadère" (2015) by Little Shao / OnPOpéra national de Paris
Rudolf Noureev in rehearsal in the Foyer of the Palais Garnier (1984) by Ullstein Bild / Roger-ViolletOpéra national de Paris
Opéra national de Paris
Commissaire : Olga Eda