Rudolf Noureev: 1938-1993, La Trame D’une Vie
(Rudolf Noureev: 1938-1993, La Trame D’une Vie)

On the occasion of the donation to the CNCS by the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation of a very important collection of documents, objects, furniture, works of art, costumes … which belonged to this famous dancer and choreographer who has become legendary , and as a foreshadowing of the Nureyev Collection inaugurated in October 2013, the CNCS and the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation presented in 2009 the exhibition “Rudolf Nureyev, 1938 – 1993, the frame of a life”, which evoked through photographs, costumes , models… the life of this dance icon and her ballets.

Conceived from collections of photos and costumes that belonged to Rudolf Nureyev, the exhibition will develop, over 1,500 m2 of surface area , the main stages of a life entirely dedicated to dance. ” We live because we dance, we live as long as we dance ” repeated Nureyev, burning the four corners
of the world the stages of a journey of dancer, choreographer, ballet master and company director …

Around a hundred costumes from the ballets he danced, productions he edited, signed by Cecil Beaton, Ezio Frigerio, Nicholas Georgiadis, Martin Kamer, Franca Squarciapino … will form one of the major axes of the exhibition, designed by Ezio Frigerio.
To evoke the legendary life , the exhibition will also present a hundred photos mostly from the collections of Rudolf Nureyev, guarded by him in multiple places to live where he sometimes put his suitcases, between Paris, London, New York …
The film clips will also be shown. We will discover the mysterious presence of Nureyev who, on a stage, captured the attention of the entire room and attached it to him.

His friend and peer Mikhail Baryshnikov said of him: “ He had the charisma and simplicity of a man of the earth, and the unapproachable arrogance of the gods. ”

Images courtesy of Centre National du Costume de Scene.