- Born
- March 17, 1938
- Died
- January 6, 1993 (aged 54)
- Place of birth
- Irkutsk, USSR [now Russia]
- Also known as
- Rudolph Nureyev, Rudolf Chametowitsch Nurejew, Rudolf Nurejew, Rudolf Noureev
Biography
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (17 March 1938 – 6 January 1993) was a Tatar dancer from the former Soviet Union, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women. He defected to the West, despite KGB efforts to stop him. According to KGB archives studied by Peter Watson, Nikita Khrushchev personally signed an order to have Nureyev killed Description above from the Wikipedia article Rudolf Nureyev, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia