RUDOLF NUREYEV - BIOGRAPHY - NUREYEV BALLET DIRECTOR AT THE PARIS OPERA

In 1983 Nureyev was offered and accepted the position of ballet director at the Paris Opéra. He held it for six years until ejected by a new administration. There he was able to continue dancing, provided that the company's permanent members had the first nights; his contract allowed him also to dance elsewhere, stipulating that he spend six months a year in Paris.

With good ballet staff he found he could deal by telephone with any problems in his absence, and of course the policies were his. Chief among them was widening the repertoire, both through his own productions and by bringing in an immense variety of ballets by leading choreographers and aspirants too in whom he saw talent. He wanted the dancers, like himself, to experience many styles: from the great classics (not previously well represented in Paris) and revivals or reconstructions of historic French works, to the best ballets of our time and many creations. Besides enlivening the company in this way, he stimulated the dancers by giving early opportunities to newcomers from the excellent attached school (which also benefited under him from new premises, while the company similarly gained new rehearsal studios).

More performances and increased touring were other benefits. The reactions expressed by French dancers to working with him are much like those recorded by the Royal Ballet's David Wall to his experience when Nureyev arrived: "A tremendous inspiration …. he made the work so exciting and fulfilling …. He will always help any dancer who asks him, and I have a feeling that any problem I had, professionally, I could always go to him and get an honest answer."