Rudolf nureyev biography dance to freedom cast

Overblown Account of Rudolph Nureyev's Defection to the West in 1961

Combining re-enacted drama with testimony from Nureyev's ex- colleagues and friends in the Kirov Ballet, as well as in Paris, Richard Curson Smith tells the story of the virtuoso's defection from the Soviet Union during the company's first European tour.

Ever since his earliest days at the Kirov, Nureyev was always a rebel.

Convinced of his own abilities as a dancer, he seldom listened to his peers in an organization that was stiflingly hierarchical in structure. He regularly quarreled with the ballet- master, but managed to make something of a name for himself in supporting roles.

Originally he was not slated to go to Paris and London on the Kirov's first European tour, but a combination of chicanery and sheer persistence ensured that he eventually went.

The Soviet authorities were particularly jumpy about the whole scheme.

They had KGB agents