After noon plus. Nureyev

Authors:Mavis Nicholson (Interviewer), Bob Ando, John Tagholm, Thames Television, ltd

Summary:Repeat telecast of a profile of Rudolf Nureyev originally aired on June 17, 1981. Contains an updated introduction by Mavis Nicholson. The profile, titled Nureyev, features interviews with Nureyev recorded in a restaurant and in the studio during a rehearsal for Maurice Béjart's Songs of a wayfarer [Chant du compagnon errant]. Among the topics discussed are: a comparison of Covent Garden and the Maryinsky Theater ; his decision to leave Russia ; his sense of rejection by the Royal Ballet after Fonteyn's retirement ; the difficulty of making one's body an instrument for dance ; the qualities he hopes to be remembered for. Alexander Bland [Nigel Gosling], his biographer and friend, talks about Nureyev's arrival in London ; his partnership with Margot Fonteyn ; his impact on British male dancers ; his experiments in modern dance, particularly in Field figures ; and his freelance work as performer, director, and producer. The program also includes a sequence recorded in a boys' class at the Royal Ballet School. Performance excerpts, drawn from Nureyev's earlier film and television appearances, include the ballets Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Le corsaire pas de deux, Giselle, Swan lake, and Field figures. His partners in these excerpts are Margot Fonteyn (in Romeo, Le corsaire, and Giselle), Lucette Aldous (in Don Quixote), and Deanne Bergsma (in Field figures)