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Nureyev: The Life

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Kavanagh's "Nureyev" is another first-rate dance biography, fully matching her marvelous account of Frederick Ashton. Nureyev was more a great star than a great dancer, yet his impact on male ballet dancers worldwide was transformative. Before Rudi, they were mostly earthbound dullards, either crudely straight or mincingly effeminate; after Rudi, men in ballet became nearly as turned out, pulled up, and extended as ballerinas, with a protean animalism that enabled them to live gay yet seem to love their women onstage.

Unlike her predecessor Richard Buckle, whose dance bios read like transcribed engagement books, Kavanagh offers a nearly perfect balance of details and distillation, compellingly tracing arcs in her subject's life. She pays extra attention to Rudi's first years in the West, richly detailing his two key relationships--with Margot Fonteyn, whom he ignited just as she was about to retire, and with Eric Bruhn, the one dancer he would learn from and the love of his life--plus the recasting of his dancing into a fusion of Russian and Western. Rudi's restless gay life is all there, yet without prurience. Eventually he settled down, for a time, with Wallace Potts, an all-American gay boy whose goodness and devotion shine through quite attractively (other acolytes followed). In these pages, Rudi lives just like a coddled star athlete: no matter how beastly his conduct, somebody always satisfies his needs and keeps his ego fully inflated. A fine biography and a great read.

Rudolf Nureyev, flamboyant dancer with the Kirov Ballet of Leningrad (St. Petersburg), began life on a train to the Eastern Russian front. He was the son of Tatar parents from a remote part of the Soviet Union. His father was a soldier who was rarely home. The family was extremely poor and often hungry, but his mother managed to sneak them into a performance of a ballet when Rudolf was five. He was determined from that time on to learn to dance and perform on the stage. He had the talent, determination and perseverance to succeed.

Julie Kavanagh has documented the life of this dancing man in this encyclopedic volume. She includes information about Nureyev's early training in his hometown, Ufa, his extensive training with mentor Pushkin and Pushkin's wife, Xenia in St. Petersburg. She details his defection to the West in Paris that read like a spy novel - complete with KGB operatives.

Nureyev passion for dance and for learning propels him to work with choreographers from the Paris Opera Ballet to West Side Story. Kavanagh includes titillating factoids about Nureyev's personal life - hobnobbing with the rich and famous, his womanizing, his homosexual lifestyle, and his final battle with HIV/AIDS. She also talks about his dancing.

Nureyev is first and foremost a ballet dancer and she documents his transition from the formal classical ballet style to the avant-garde modern dance styles he helped to create.

This tome, and it is a tome of nearly 700 pages without counting the extensive footnotes, acknowledgements and index, is an extensive account of a fascinating person. It is quite readable, with the caveat that there are multitudinous Russian names, ballet terminologies, and musical references. These kept me reading somewhat slower than usual.

The book also has three large sections of photographic illustrations.

Armchair Interviews says: Anyone with a strong interest in ballet history or in Nureyev himself will find this to be a very satisfying book.

Julie Kavanagh is so realistic approaching Nureyev, not being under the spell of his character as most biographers do, yet, she puts you under the spell of Nureyev througout the book... and even days and days after finishing the book... You hate Nureyev, you adore Nureyev, you pity Nureyev, you love Nureyev, you admire Nureyev, you're angry towards Nureyev and thus, you live Nureyev... you live in his lonely world, you feel his frustrations, you taste his success, you touch his body... and in the end, you die with him... Such an encompassing book...

I have been buying books my entire adult life and off Amazon since its inception, however never have I before felt compelled to review until now, which speaks to the brilliance of Julie Kavanagh's book. I try to read outside categories I know, and this one was no exception, no absolutely nothing about ballet or dance. But this book made me feel and appreciate both, as well as the epic life of Nureyev. Passionately told and incredible well researched, this is a biography worthy of its subject.

I'm staggered by some of the critical reviews here; I find it a very sympathetic, beautifully written and seemingly well-researched account. I fell in love with him. A narcissistic, impetuous, difficult man with (delightfully) filthy language - but also a hard working, striving-to-learn genius, and a kind and generous friend. A fascinating, essential balletomane read.

Ms. Kavanagh's biography of Rudolph Nureyev provided me with an unexpected education of the world of ballet, about which I have know very little. I bought the book because as a young student I had seen Nureyev in Paris in June of 1961 in Sleeping Beauty at the Palais des Sports prior to sailing home to New York. It was while I was crossing the Atlantic that Nureyev defected. I still have the program from that ballet in Paris. With that much personal interest the well researched book transported me to the event in 1961 with the details of the defection which I have never known and filled in for me all the years afterwards until his death. I never saw him dance again after Paris where he was so impressive I remember how focused I was on his dancing ...really transfixed by his athleticism and presence. This book, which I purchased through Amazon, is an excellent preparation for understanding the complexity of ballet and for watching Nureyev's skills on videos...FJ Sullivan

I read this in December 2010 having recently gotten interested in Nureyev's life and work. Of all the Nureyev bios available, this book is the best of the bunch, hands down. I didn't find it too long, even though it's 700 pages. Not a bad page in the book, either. The way she unfolds the story is masterful, she really lets the reader build up to a full image of the man, chapter by chapter. By the time you reach the end, you've got a pretty good idea of the complexities and paradoxes of this exceptional person. I'm surprised there haven't been more reviews of this book here -- most are from 2007 -- but now with the release of Apollo's Angels, which is a big hit, maybe that will inspire new readers to pick up this one and learn some more about the world of ballet and dance. After I read this book, I bought several DVDs of Nureyev ballets, a fair number of both used and new books, and even a couple of really old VHS tapes. I wish more film was available of him performing modern works. This is a superb book, with lots to think about as you read it. I liked Kavanagh's writing style so much, I ended up buying the bio she wrote about Frederic Ashton, which should make a good companion piece to the Nureyev bio.

Nureyev: The Life
This is a page turner of a book- not only for the unusual life of Nureyev but also for a look into the world of dance. As great a dancer as he was, even he struggled repeatedly to find his place in the world. As he aged, he needed to change his repertoire, and, eventually, his career. Julie Kavanagh is a dancer who understands the politics of dance and builds in enough detail to make us feel the frustrations and struggles of Nureyev as he tries to find a company which fits his personality.

He was born on a train as his mother and sisters journeyed to be with his soldier father. Of this unusual entrance into the world, Nureyev was to say "...it was the most romantic event of his life, symbolic of his future statelessness and nomadic existence."

His was a life lived from place to place from humble beginnings in a Russian village to the most luxurious surroundings the world could offer. He was an icon, libidinous, both men and women were drawn to him. The great love of his life, according to this author, was the great Danish dancer Erik Bruhn. One reason for his defection Nureyev is quoted as saying is because he wanted to learn to dance like Bruhn and "to study with Bruhn's teacher, the Russian born Vera Volkova, a childhood friend of Pushkin's."

Many were to play a part in Nureyev's life and career, They helped him in numerous ways, introductions, opportunities, advancing his talent. However, once these people had served their purpose they "became dispensable."

A trained ballet dancer Ms. Kavanagh brings insightful commentary to this stunning biography, which abounds with quotes from letters, diaries, and interviews. All of these bring an immediacy to her narrative, an accessibility, if you will, to Nureyev's thoughts and ambitions. He was, of course, a superstar, an idol who lived a flamboyant life and brought a spectacular aura to the world of dance. Nureyev the man was unparalleled, and so is his biography by Julie Kavanagh.

- Gail Cooke

Although Ms Kavangh's work reflects a huge amount of research, I do not believe she has brought any new fresh insights into the history of the greatest male dancer of the 20th century. In fact, some elements of his life's story are short-changed, such as his stormy tenure at the helm of the Paris Opera Ballet. Nor does she adequately address, in my opinion, his shortcomings as a choreographer, which in retrospect almost overwhelm his achievements as a dancer. An unnecessarily lengthy work, you're better off browsing through it at the local library, than investing in a copy.