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S52E10: The Magic of Nureyev | Clip

Nureyev in Russia

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At 23, Nureyev fled his homeland of Russia to escape persecution for being gay. The first Russian dancer to seek freedom in the West, Nureyev suddenly found himself become an international icon.

TRANSCRIPT

[train whistle] When Rudolf was born in Russia his mother was on the way to see his father, who was servin in the Red Army in the Far East.

And Rudolf was was then born on the train which I always saw as symbolic of his sort of nomadic life that he then went on to do.

Yeah.

Oh, yes.

He was born on a train ride and then had a hard upbringing and difficult family life.

And I think his father didn't want him to dance.

And he still made it through all of that, you know, from, you know, you say in America, from zero to hero, you know, the the dream to come from poverty and to become a worldwide icon.

The ballet dancing legend Rudolf Nureyev sought asylum in France from Soviet Russia on this day in 1961.

He believed tha if he returned home from a trip to Paris with the Kirov Company he'd be imprisoned by the KGB.

Nureyevs private accounts of the events, as well as those of many of his close friends, tell he stayed in the West due to consequences of living in Soviet Russia and being gay.

So on the 17th of June 1961, Paris Airport, Rudolf Nureyev defected.

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