Dancing to Survive

At the age of 51, international ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev was still dancing with expression and passion, even as his body suffered a rapid decline. The legend dancer was “officially forgotten” in the Soviet Union after his defection in 1961 and is only just being rediscovered here. As a result, the 60th anniversary of his birth is causing quite a stir in Russia. So much so that a Nureyev exhibit  held at Moscow’s Dom Naschokina Gallery, which included photographs and costumes on loan from the French museum Carnavalet and the Nureyev Foundation, lasted a whole month and a half. Russian Life sent Associate Editor Anna Hoare to Naschokina to find out more about the dancer’s colorful life.