CriticalDance Forum

<img src="http://www.rudolfnureyev.it/images/prima.jpg" alt="" />
<small>From the Italian website Rudolf Nureyev</small>

<big>Scroll down to the posting for 22 December for the latest news of the Nureyev film season</big>

Rudolph Nureyev
January 2003 at London's National Film Theatre

A tribute to the legendary dancer marking the tenth anniversary of his death. This comprehensive tv season will include footage of Nureyev at work in productions ranging from Swan Lake to Don Quixote as well as interviews conducted by Michael Parkinson and Ludovic Kennedy.

Details of the NFT film programme (subject to change):

NFT2 1 Jan 6.20 I Am a Dancer

NFT2 1 Jan 8.40 Valentino

NFT2 3 Jan 6.20 Omnibus & Flower Fest

NFT2 4 Jan 4.00 RB "The Nutcracker"

NFT1 6 Jan 6.30 Romeo & Juliet

NFT2 7 Jan 6.20 Noureev and Petipa

NFT2 11 Jan 8.40 Swan Lake

NFT1 18 Jan 6.30 This is Rudolf Nureyev!

NFT1 21 Jan 6.30 Don Quixote

NFT2 25 Jan 8.40 I Am a Dancer

NFT2 28 Jan 6.20 Nureyev on TV

NFT2 28 Jan 8.40 Romeo & Juliet

NFT2 31 Jan 8.40 This is Rudolf Nureyev!

AS far as I know the interview programme has not been announced. Watch this space for further details.

The National Film Theatre, South Bank London SE! 8TL (under Waterloo Bridge); 020 7928 3232.
Postal booking for members from 11 December, personal booking 20 December.

<small>[ 22 December 2002, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Changes to the programme:

Additional Films:
17 Jan The Royal Ballet The Nutcracker 6.20 pm
18 Jan Romeo & Juliet 8.40pm
19 Jan Swan Lake 6.20pm

Change of Films:
28 Jan Omnibus & Flower Festival replaces Romeo & Juliet

The Nutcracker is the 1968 BBC recording of Nureyev with Merle Park

Swan Lake is the Nureyev/Fonteyn Swan Lake with Vienna State Opera Ballet filmed 1966
It is superb - I have it on DVD.

<img src="http://www.dancing-times.co.uk/Pics/dancingtimes/200212/coverdec.jpg" alt="" />

This is Nureyev!
A season of Rudolf Nureyev on screen at the National Film Theatre, January 2003
By Jane Pritchard for The Dancing Times

On January 6, 2003 Paul Czinner’s film of Romeo and Juliet will be shown at the National Film Theatre, London. This might be regarded as a tribute to three significant contributors to the production. The screening falls within the year of celebration of the work of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan and 2003 also marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the composer, Serge Prokofiev. But most significantly, January 6 is the 10th anniversary of the death of the great dancer Rudolf Nureyev and to mark the occasion and celebrate his contribution to 20th century ballet a month-long festival of Nureyev on screen is being presented at the NFT from January 1 to 31.

This festival follows similar events in Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Paris, although some of the material included will be different. Over the past decade the NFT has been generous in scheduling dance programmes (mostly in collaboration with the Society for Dance Research which believes that the hidden dance resources of the BBC Archive should at least get occasional showings) making it the logical venue for the presentation. With 10 different programmes and 13 presentations This is Nureyev! will be one of the most substantial dance on screen seasons held there.

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<small>[ 12-04-2002, 14:57: Message edited by: PressUK ]</small>

<img src="http://www.rudolfnureyev.it/images/nurainsala.jpg" alt="" />
<small>From the Italian Nureyev website</small>

A nice e-mail from the wonderful Jane Pritchard, one of the organisers of the Nureyev film season and many previous ones at the NFT. Jane is the archivist at Rambert Dance Company and has an astonishing knowledge of and enthusiasm for ballet and dance. She really is one of the unsung heroes of UK dance

***********************************

From Jane:

....."This is Nureyev" film season - 16 screenings, 10 different
programmes at the NFT 1-31 January. It does include some rarities - eg Noureev et Petipa (7 Jan) and This is Rudolf Nureyev from 1964 on 18 and 31 Jan. Also to see works
like Don Quixote on the big screen is worthwhile!

I'll try to keep you up to date where guests will be giving
tributes/intros. Wed 1 Jan Clive Barnes will introduce Nureyev's first
UK television appearance (in person as well as interviewing
Nureyev on screen!) Mon 6 Jan Lynn Seymour will pay tribute to
Nureyev prior to the screening of Romeo and Juliet.

Press Release

This is Nureyev!

A season of Rudolf Nureyev on Screen at the National Film Theatre, January 2003, to mark the 10th anniversary of his death

Rudolf Nureyev was one of the most exciting dancers of the Twentieth Century. With his exotic looks, charismatic personality and stunning technique he revolutionised male dancing in classical ballet - and the public's appreciation of it. From his defection from the Soviet Union to the West in 1961 Nureyev's life was action-packed with a remarkably full performance schedule. Fortunately some of his most memorable performances were filmed for posterity. By concentrating on material recorded in the 1960s and 1970s the programmes show him at the height of his powers as a dancer. The season reveals the development of his career as dancer, choreographer and producer, as well as an actor and film director!

This is Nureyev! at the National Film Theatre expands on earlier seasons of Nureyev films screened in Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Paris and includes a mixture of well-known and rarely-seen material. The rarities include the film, This is Rudolf Nureyev, made in Spoleto during his staging of Raymonda for the Royal Ballet Touring Company in 1964, (Programme 8 screened 18 and 31 January in a new print) as well as recordings of his earliest television appearances both in Britain (Programme 1) and America (Programme 3). Noureev et Petipa (Programme 5 screened 7 January), emphasises Nureyev’s role in expanding our knowledge of Russian classical ballet and includes glimpses of his protégés from his period as director of the Paris Opéra Ballet, among them Sylvie Guillem. The programmes reveal the international nature of Nureyev's career as he dances with the Australian Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Paris Opéra Ballet, the Royal Ballet, and Vienna State Opera Ballet. It also provides the excuse to admire the dancing of a bevy of ballerinas who Nureyev partnered including Lucette Aldous, Deanne Bergsma, Svetlana Beriosova, Margot Fonteyn, Carla Fracci, Zizi Jeanmaire, Natalia Makarova, Merle Park, Lynn Seymour, Maria Tallchief and Doreen Wells.

This special season of dance on screen runs from 1 – 31 January and marks the 10th anniversary of Nureyev's death. On 6 January a new print of Paul Czinner’s film of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet (with Fonteyn and Nureyev) will be screened preceded by a short tribute by the ballerina Lynn Seymour. Other multi-act ballets to be screened include Nureyev’s own productions of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Don Quixote.


An Outline of individual programmes follows.

PROGRAMME 1 I Am A Dancer
Wednesday 1 Jan 6.00. NFT 2; Saturday 25 Jan 8.30 NFT 2
The opening programme features the documentary I am a dancer (EMI 1973) showing Nureyev backstage, in class and rehearsal, and performing four contrasting ballets including Frederick Ashton's Marguerite and Armand. I am a dancer will be preceded by Nureyev and Fonteyn dancing the iconic Le Corsaire pas de deux from An Evening with the Royal Ballet and Nureyev's first two appearances on British television. In Music in Camera (BBC tx. 10.01.62) Nureyev dances the pas de deux from The Nutcracker with Rosella Hightower and in Monitor Rudolf Nureyev (BBC tx 25.02.62) he is interviewed by Clive Barnes.

PROGRAMME 2 Valentino
Wednesday 1 Jan 8.20. NFT 2; Saturday 4 Jan 3.40 NFT 2
Rudolf plays Rudolph in Ken Russell's biographical extravaganza on the hero of the 'silent' screen. According to many critics Nureyev's acting debut saved the film and his brief tango with Anthony Dowell's Nijinsky is a highlight of the film. (With Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips, Carol Kane and Felicity Kendal). Preceded by Tonight: Interview with Nureyev (BBC tx. 03.10.77) in which Nureyev discusses making the film. Robert Chartoff-Irwin Winkler Production 1977.

PROGRAMME 3 Omnibus and Flower Festival
Friday 3 Jan 6.15 NFT 2; Tuesday 28 Jan 8.30 NFT2
Two editions of the BBC’s Omnibus provide the core of this programme. Lindsay Anderson profiles Nureyev's career (BBC tx 27.01.74) and Barry Norman interviews Nureyev who also rehearses Briony Brind for the Royal Ballet's revival of his La Bayadére (BBC tx 28.02.82). The presentation also includes recordings of Nureyev dancing the pas de deux, Flower Festival in Genzano with Maria Tallchief (his American debut) for The Bell Television Hour (tx 19.01.62), and with Merle Park for Gala Performance (BBC tx.27.12.74). Also Michel Fokine's Les Sylphides from An Evening with the Royal Ballet (Nureyev with Margot Fonteyn, Merle Park and Annette Page).

PROGRAMME 4 Romeo and Juliet
Monday 6 Jan 6.15 NFT 1; Saturday 18 Jan 8.30 NFT 2
A stunning new print restores the rich colours of Nicholas Georgiadis’ original designs to Paul Czinner’s film of Kenneth MacMillan’s spectacularly dramatic production of Romeo and Juliet. Starring Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn as the star-crossed lovers and other members of the first stage cast this has become one of the most famous ballet films. Recording the ballet over five days using his multi-camera technique, Czinner tried to encapsulate the spirit of a live performance. Rank Organisation 1966.

PROGRAMME 5 Noureev et Petipa
Tuesday 7 January 8.50 NFT 1
Nureyev’s role as producer of Russian classical ballets is emphasised in this excellent French documentary from the Cinémathèque de la danse, Noureev et Petipa. The programme, which includes material recorded in rehearsals, emphasises the links between the Imperial Russian Ballets choreographed by Marius Petipa and Nureyev’s stagings of ballets for audiences in the Western world. A rich array of extracts include several from productions of The Sleeping Beauty (among them his staging for the National Ballet of Canada) and a number of his ballets for the Paris Opéra Ballet.

PROGRAMME 6 Swan Lake
Saturday 11 Jan 8.40 NFT 2; Sunday 19 Jan 6.00 NFT 2
Nureyev's production of Swan Lake for the Vienna State Opera Ballet places the focus of attention on Prince Siegfried (danced by himself) rather than Odette Odile danced by Margot Fonteyn. Unitel 1966.

PROGRAMME 7 The Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker
Friday 17 Jan 6.00 NFT 2
Rudolf Nureyev stars as both Drosselmeyer and the Nutcracker Prince with Merle Park as Clara in this recording for television of his own production of The Nutcracker as mounted on The Royal Ballet. The live recording from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, was made at the time of the production’s premiere by the Royal Ballet with sumptuous designs by Nicholas Georgiadis. (BBC tx. 02.03.68) with Leslie Edwards, Ann Jenner, Deanne Bergsma, Monica Mason and Wayne Sleep. Preceded by Release Nureyev's Nutcracker. (BBC tx. 10.03.68).

PROGRAMME 8 This is Rudolf Nureyev
Saturday 18 Jan 6.00 NFT 1; Friday 31 Jan 8.40 NFT 2
A rare opportunity to see the documentary made of Nureyev’s staging of Raymonda for the Royal Ballet touring company at Spoleto in 1964. Combining footage of rehearsals, performance and interviews the creation was set against the drama of Fonteyn's absence because of the relapse of her husband after the attempt on his life, and the need for Doreen Wells to assume the title role. A New print of this film will be screened. The programme is completed by Diana and Actaeon performed for Bell Telephone Hour with Svetlana Beriosova tx 24.03.64), Romeo and Juliet pas de deux Lynn Seymour from the Gala Performance series (tx BBC2 30.12.71) and Roland Petit's own screen adaptation of Le Jeune Homme et La Mort for Nureyev with Zizi Jeanmaire (1966).

PROGRAMME 9 Don Quixote
Tuesday 21 Jan 6.10 NFT 1
Nureyev was both behind and in front of .the camera in this lively recording of his own production of Don Quixote for the Australian Ballet which was shot over 25 days in an aircraft hanger. In filming his own staging of Petipa's nineteenth century ballet Nureyev was concerned with translating 'the fizz, drive and comedy of the stage performance' to the screen resulting in one of the best ballet films to date. Photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth.(With Robert Helpmann and Lucette Aldous).

PROGRAMME 10 Nureyev on television.
Thursday 28 Jan 6.10 NFT 2
An evening drawing mainly on the resources of the BBC archives. The presentation includes Nureyev's first screen performance with Fonteyn in Giselle (Music in Camera BBC tx. 11.06.62) and extracts from the series Gala Performance in which he dances Gayane with Fonteyn (BBC tx 19.11.63) and Swan Lake with Natalia Makarova BBC tx 01.01.71. Also included is Nureyev and the Dutch National Ballet (BBC tx 29.11.69) and, hopefully, one or two surprises.

This is Nureyev! Season at the NFT is curated by Jane Pritchard and Wallace Potts (Film Archivist of the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation) with the assistance of the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation, Liechtenstein.

Further information about the films, photographs and videos for pre-screening viewing available from Jane Pritchard 020 7254 9277
jp@rambert.org.uk or jane.pritchard@ballet.org.uk

Press tickets for screenings available from the Brian Robinson/Ian Cuthbert, Press Office National Film Theatre. brian.robinson@bfi.org.uk or ian.cuthbert@bfi.org.uk

The schedule for the Nureyev films at the National Film Theatre is:

Wednesday 1 January 6.00 NFT 2 and Saturday 25 January 8.30 NFT 2
Le Corsaire from An Evening with the Royal Ballet (1963); Music in Camera (BBC 1962); Monitor: Rudolf Nureyev (BBC 1962); I am a Dancer (1973).

Wednesday 1 January 8.20 NFT 2 and Saturday 4 January 3.40 NFT 2
Tonight (BBC 1977); Valentino (1977).

Friday 3 January 6.15 NFT 2 and Tuesday 28 January 8.30 NFT 2
Les Sylphides from An Evening with the Royal Ballet (1963); Omnibus: Nureyev with Lindsay Anderson (BBC 1974); Flower Festival in Genzano (Bell Telephone Hour 1962) and Gala Performance (BBC 1974); Omnibus: Nureyev & Brind in rehearsal (BBC 1982).

Monday 6 January 6.15 NFT 1 and Saturday 18 January 8.30 NFT 2
Romeo and Juliet (1966)

Tuesday 7 January 8.50 NFT 1
Noureev et Petipa (Cinémathèque de la danse, 1996) Screened in French with English subtitles.

Saturday 11 January 8.40 NFT 2; Sunday 19 January 6.00 NFT 2
Swan Lake (1966).

Friday 17 January 6.00 NFT 2
Release: Nureyev’s Nutcracker (BBC 1968); The Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker (BBC 1968)

Saturday 18 January 6.00 NFT 1 and Friday 31 January 8.40 NFT 2
Le Corsaire; This is Rudolf Nureyev (1964); Le Jeune Homme et La Mort (1966); Gala Performance Romeo & Juliet Balcony pas de deux (BBC 1971); Diane and Actaeon (Bell Telephone Hour 1964).

Tuesday 21 January 6.10 NFT 1
Don Quixote (1972).

Tuesday 28 January 6.10 NFT 2
Programme includes Music in Camera: Giselle (BBC 1962); Gala Performance: Gayane (BBC 1963); Gala Performance: Swan Lake Act III (BBC 1971); Nureyev and the Dutch National Ballet (BBC 1969).

The National Film Theatre, South Bank London SE1 8TL 020 7928 3232

<small>[ 23 December 2002, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Lord of the dance
Rudolf Nureyev, the greatest male dancer of our time, died 10 years ago. On the eve of a season of his work on film at the National Film Theatre, John Percival in The Independent celebrates his charisma, energy, originality and perfectionism.

Two men dominated the world of ballet in the 20th century: Vaslav Nijinsky in its early years; Rudolf Nureyev more recently. Their names were known not just to balletomanes but to the wider public – they even had racehorses named after them. Both danced with the best companies and the leading ballerinas of their day; both invented ballets as well as dancing them, and also had memorable roles made for them by top choreographers. But there were two big differences. First, Nijinsky's career was short, because of illness; Nureyev's exceptionally long in spite of illness. Secondly, we can only imagine how Nijinsky danced, from descriptions, still photos and other illustrations; whereas Nureyev's dancing was recorded on film and video right from his graduation onwards.

So, the 10th anniversary of Nureyev's early death will be commemorated not only on stage (galas in Milan, Vienna, Paris, etc, and a special programme later at Covent Garden), but also with a unique tribute at the National Film Theatre: a series of performances through January showing him in at least a score of his roles, some of them to be seen more than once with various partners, plus several interviews.

click for more

I highly recommend Nureyev and Fonteyn in Romeo and Juliet and their Swan Lake with the Vienna Ballet. Both are available on DVD and video. But you can't beat the atmosphere of big screen at the newly refurbished NFT. I was there last night purchasing my tickets for the season and it really does look swish there (while retaining its distinct bohemianism of course). I can't wait to see Nureyev with Jeanmaire in Petit's "Le Jeune Homme et la Mort." I saw Zelensky and Makhalina of the Mariinsky dance this and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. So Nureyev and Jeanmaire...!

Rudolf Nureyev's life celebrated on film
By Allen Robertson for The Times


DANCERS ARE notoriously wary about the way they look on film, and Rudolf Nureyev was no exception. Yet he repeatedly chose to appear in film and on television. He was such a superstar in the 1960s that he could hardly have avoided the camera. Nureyev even appeared on The Muppet Show partnering Miss Piggy in Swine Lake. He became one of the first dancers whose career can actually be viewed retrospectively.

Nureyev died a decade ago in Paris on January 6, 1992, at the age of 55. To mark the tenth anniversary of his death, the National Film Theatre is presenting a month-long celebration of the Russian dancer. It began on New Year’s Day with two highly contrasting films, the documentary I Am a Dancer (1972) and Ken Russell’s torrid potboiler biopic Valentino (1977), plus Nureyev’s first BBC interview after his headline-grabbing “leap to freedom” defection at a Paris airport in 1961.

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Friday saw the close of the Festival. Jane Pritichard gave an informative introduction to the various works that were about to be seen and also introduced the rather lovely Doreen Wells. As glamorous as ever, Ms Wells explained what a privilege it had been to share in Nureyev's vision for ballet. She had understudied Margot Fonteyn in the role of Raymonda when Nureyev first brought the ballet to the West (having literally smuggled out of USSR notations of the chorepgraphy.) She got her lucky break to perform in Italy when Fonteyn had to leave suddenly due to family problems. Ms Wells looked divine in her vivid red suit and so did some rather older ballerinas (clearly ballerinas) in the audience: slim and elegant with haughty faces. Unfortunately I did not recognise them. If anyone could give me any clues, I would be most grateful.