RUDOLF NUREYEV & FRIENDS
But Nureyev is no longer the electrifying ephebe of past years, nor is he now the only defector to claim our affections. For that matter, the political climate has changed so radically that Russian dancers no longer have to defect to perform abroad, and they’ve become so familiar to us that the mystique surrounding Soviet ballet is rapidly fading.
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So what does an aging legend, for whom the roar of the crowd remains the breath of life, do? Tradition demands a farewell tour. And Nureyev, no longer resident with any troupe, has put together a barnstorming ensemble of six well-known dancers–the friends of Rudolf Nureyev & Friends–in a tour similar to one he led 15 years ago. Nor does he stint himself, appearing in the three major works on the program. Nureyev recreates his original role in Songs of a Wayfarer, a duet to Gustav Mahler’s song cycle that Maurice Bejart choreographed for him and Paolo Bortoluzzi in 1971. Charles Jude, the elegant young star of the Paris Opera Ballet, is the mysterious representation of fate, an alter ego or doppelganger, who follows and comforts the wayfarer on his fateful journey. Their relationship emphasizes tenderness and sympathy rather than any obvious homoerotic elements. Although Nureyev’s body is no longer youthfully flexible, and his physical control of extensions and turns is occasionally questionable, he remains a fascinating figure, whose presence was never overshadowed by Jude’s silken technique and reedlike wiriness.
By the time the program concluded, with Jose Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane, Nureyev’s energy seemed to have waned, and his performance of Shakespeare’s tragic figure was at best indifferent. For some reason, he was not made up as a Moor. Instead he wore a gray beard, and looked and acted old and worn. He never suggested a passion for Christine Spizzo, his Desdemona. Georgio Madia, substituting for the injured Jean-Guillaume Bart as Iago, is so tall he dwarfed Nureyev. Flindt was Emilia.
