Prominent refugees

Sunday 16 January 2011

Rudolf Nureyev (1938 - 1993)



Rudolf Nureyev



Profession: dancer, choreographer, actor
Country of origin: Russian Federation
Country of asylum: France
 
"I was utterly possessed. From that day I can truthfully date my unwavering decision to become a ballet dancer. I felt "called" watching the dancers that night, admiring their other-worldly ability to defy the laws of balance and gravity. I had the absolute certitude that I had been born to dance".
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I'd already heard about Nureyev in a dance class I attended once, but I had no idea that he was a refugee. Why are these people so important? Refugees are an essential part of our society because they “have achieved special status within a community due to their achievements, or because they have overcome hardship to build a new life.”  They have the ability and the opportunity, not only to teach us a very important life lesson, but also to spread their message throughout the world.
 
Nureyev was born on a Trans-Siberian train near the shores of Lake Baikal. "It seems to me very symbolic and revealing that I should have been born en route in between two places," he once said. "It makes me feel that it was my destiny to be cosmopolitan. Ever since I was born, I have had no real sense of 'belonging', no real country or house to call my own. My existence had none of the usual, normal limitations which make for a feeling of permanence and this has always left me with a strong sensation of having been born stateless."
 
His family was constantly moving, until they settled in Moscow when he was three months old. Three years later, a bomb destroyed their home and they lost everything. They were obliged to move to their region of origin. It was there that he discovered dancing. It was during a performance at the local opera that he understood his true vocation.
 
Rudolf Nureyev's legendary leap over the barrier at Le Bourget airport on June 17, 1961, marked a turning point in the extraordinary career of this talented artist and a significant moment in the history of the Cold War. Following triumphant performances in Paris in 1961, the young prodigy from Leningrad's Kirov Ballet decided to ask for political asylum in France.
 
A solitary character, Nureyev never really settled anywhere. Born in the USSR, he resided in France and worked all over the world. Being 50 years old and the Director of Ballet at the Paris Opera did not stop him from dancing. As he said himself, the theatre was his homeland, and dancing his whole life.
 

 
I hope you like it!
Daniela :)