Proms Plus Literary - Rudolf Nureyev
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 16 August 2013
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rudolf Nureyev was one of the greatest dancers of the 20th century. His charisma and electrifying stage presence made him a superstar and he transformed the status and even the expected appearance of the male dancer. Twenty years after his death the former director of the Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason, who partnered him in Hamlet, and his biographer, Julie Kavanagh, celebrate his life and legacy with Samira Ahmed. Recorded in front of an audience at the Royal College of Music as part of this year's Proms Plus events.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
| 0:23.4 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.9 | Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.1 | This is a download from the BBC. |
| 0:34.0 | For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.co.uk slash radio three. |
| 0:41.8 | Tonight I'm talking to the former director of the Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason, and biographer and former ballet dancer Julie Kavana, about Rudolf Nureyev, the Russian Kirov dancer who became ballet's first pop icon. In 1961, age just 23, |
| 0:57.7 | he became the first Soviet artist to defect to the West and was a superstar from the start. |
| 1:03.4 | His dramatic style and his electrifying partnership with Margot Fontaine at the Royal Ballet are |
| 1:08.8 | legendary. Monica, you were at the Royal Ballet when Nurea arrived in London in 1962, and he did the |
| 1:15.1 | rehearsal room, I think, when he first walked in. What was he like? |
| 1:18.1 | Well, actually, I was on the outside of the rehearsal room, peeking through the door, |
| 1:23.5 | a whole pile of us, because we'd heard there was a stranger in the midst and that he was rather gorgeous. |
| 1:32.1 | And so we all looked in the door and of course immediately one saw this extraordinarily beautiful person. |
| 1:41.0 | And then in no time he did a performance and then he came and worked with us. |
| 1:46.0 | So I don't think I ever got used to his beauty though. |
| 1:49.4 | I always thought he was quite extraordinarily, |
| 1:53.2 | unusually beautiful to look at. |
| 1:56.9 | Well, I think you only have to look at the photographs of him today. |
| 2:00.1 | In a way, the photographs so clearly illustrate this extraordinary person. |
| 2:07.8 | I mean, such a commanding presence, an astonishing energy. |
| 2:14.0 | And, you know, he had a sort of cunning, he was charismatic totally charismatic but very generous in his |
| 2:23.3 | work with us and we loved having him around and we learned so much from him julie what was the |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.