JOHN CALLAWAY INTERVIEWS: RUDOLF NUREYEV (TV)
Summary
One in this series of interview programs hosted by John
Callaway. In this edition, Callaway interviews ballet
dancer Rudolf Nureyev about his life and career.
Nureyev begins by examining the importance of effective
teaching, and he discusses the differences between the
Danish and Russian techniques of ballet as evolved from
the original French tradition. Next, he explores in
detail the reemergence of the male dancer in recent
history and his own contribution to the expansion of the
princes' roles in "Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake."
Callaway then asks the dancer to explain how he
organizes, produces, and choreographs a ballet with
specific emphasis on environment, music, personnel, and
instinct. Nureyev then discusses his early training
with folk-dance groups; his discomfort and fear of
performing in public; and his current feelings toward
his art, as control asserts its influence over the pure
passion of his earlier years. Next, he reveals how he
made the transition from ballet to modern dance and
touches on his views on travel, his mode of handling
dance-related injuries, nutrition and diet, the impact
of television on dance, and the role of dance critics.
After revealing the names of those in the dance world he
considers to have had the greatest influence on him,
Nureyev discusses his impoverished childhood in Soviet
Russia; his defection to the West in 1961 and the
resulting punishment by Soviet authorities of the family
he left behind; his preference to be apolitical; his
interest in directing ballet films; the combination he
prefers of dancing classical ballet, performing in new
ballets, and doing his own choreography; and his views
on the importance of art as well as the purpose of music
and dance.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1999.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WTTW Chicago, IL
- DATE: November 30, 0197
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:28
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:11806
- GENRE: Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Ballet; Biography; Dance; Dancers; Soviet Union
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1981-1983
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Callaway … Host, Interviewer
- Rudolf Nureyev … Guest