♪♪ -Next on "Great Performances," the artistry of legendary dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev.

His sensational performances made him a dance icon and electrified audiences around the world.

♪♪ -He would just make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up just by being on stage.

-At 26 years old, his choreography and star performance in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" changed ballet forever.

-He definitely broke the mold of the male dancer -- stands behind the ballerina and always lifts her up in the air.

He really put himself -- not in front of the ballerina, but let's say beside the ballerina.

-Rudolf put in a solo.

Very, very sort of sad.

And it's now become the standard in every production.

♪♪ -And Nureyev's unexpected chemistry with the more mature Dame Margot Fonteyn thrilled audiences.

-What most inspires me about this couple is the importancy of partnership.

It's the partnership.

That's what makes the story.

-Featuring extensive sequences from Nureyev's 1964 production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," "The Magic of Nureyev" is next.

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Thank you.

♪♪ ♪♪ [Woman speaking Russian] -[ Speaks Russian ] [ Laughs ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -He would just make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up just by being on stage.

♪♪ -Like a rare jewel that, you know -- There's only a few of them, those giant diamonds, in the whole world, and he was one of those.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Ballet history was made at the Vienna State Opera in October 1964 when 26-year-old Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev choreographed "Swan Lake" and cast himself as the male lead.

His version of Tchaikovsky's love story would go on to make him the dance icon of the 20th century.

-A friend and I would go and queue for tickets, literally staying up all night, and we would go and buy masses of daffodils.

And to shower him from the gods, we would throw daffodils down.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -This is the famous fairy tale about the Prince and the Swan and love.

The search of what is love, what is -- what you want to find, what you give your heart for.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -To go and stage an entire classic, taking the essence of the original, the Petipa and the Ivanov, and making the changes that he wanted to make.

-When he was offered to create a new "Swan Lake" for Vienna, this is like the gift of a lifetime.

That doesn't happen very often, especially not at such a young age.

Nureyev was 25.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Rudolf put in a solo.

Very, very sort of sad.

And it's now become the standard in every production.

And it's wonderful because it shows his understanding of Tchaikovsky, who was very outcast by his homosexuality.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Wow.

-Genius.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Train whistle blows ] -When Rudolf was born in Russia, his mother was on the way to see his father, who was serving in the Red Army in the Far East, and Rudolf was then born on the train, which I always saw as symbolic of his sort of nomadic life that he then went on to do.

-Yeah.

Oh, yes.

He was born on a train, right?

And then had a hard upbringing, a difficult family life.

And I think his father didn't want him to dance.

And he still made it through all of that, you know, from, you know -- You say in America "from zero to hero."

You know, the dream to come from poverty and to become a worldwide icon.

-The ballet dancing legend Rudolf Nureyev sought asylum in France from Soviet Russia on this day in 1961.

He believed that if he returned home from a trip to Paris with the Kirov Company, he'd be imprisoned by the KGB.

Nureyev's private accounts of the events, as well as those of many of his close friends, tell that he stayed in the West due to consequences of living in Soviet Russia and being gay.

So on the 17th of June, 1961, at the Paris Airport, Rudolf Nureyev defected.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -When they started working together, they discovered a great rapport, and Margot realized that she could learn from him and he could learn from her, so there was this sort of symbiotic thing they had going.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -What most inspires me about this couple is the importancy of partnership.

I always find that it's much more important than the solos.

It's the partnership.

That's what makes the story.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Nureyev was adoring Margot Fonteyn.

When I see the picture, I understand why.

It's just such a beauty.

[ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -He definitely broke the mold of the male dancer -- stands behind the ballerina and always lifts her up in the air.

You know?

Just the crane.

Yeah.

The lifting machine.

He really put himself -- not in front of the ballerina, but let's say beside the ballerina.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -I find him incredibly handsome.

I mean, the bones and that Tatar, slightly Mongolian look.

And he had a scar.

I asked him, "Where did you get that scar?"

He said, A big dog!"

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -[Shouting] ♪♪ -If a dancer wasn't performing 110 percent, he would get mad and, you know, could fling a dancer, a ballerina to the floor or drag someone around by her necklace or -- You know, he could get very violent.

-[Shouting] ♪♪ -[Shouting] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -In those big classical ballets, you need -- you need the extravaganza, you need... the glitter.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ And there is a bad guy and he's controlling the Swan and, yes, he wants to do something bad to the Prince.

That's why he turns the White Swan into the Black Swan, and the Black Swan deceives the prince.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -What, to me, is most special about the Vienna production is seeing Nureyev at his greatest.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -His use of the music with the movement he put together, it fits very well together.

I mean, I think there you can tell that it's a man that -- that knows about music.

-One of his innovations in the Vienna "Swan Lake" is having the male dancer and the ballerina dance side by side the same steps, a bit like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -I would even say that this is his life.

This is probably his real life, that -- His place of life is the stage and the ballet is the story.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Indistinct shouting ] ♪♪ -There would be someone like Jackie Kennedy, who would send an aeroplane to fetch him for tea -- or Marlene Dietrich.

People were just completely smitten by him.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -From the eyes of me as a choreographer today, not just as a dancer, I have to say that a lot of the scenes are very well-constructed.

There's just lots of scenes with a lot of people, and they're very well-constructed.

They're not messy.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -It's amazing.

It's, uh... such an inspiration.

-And it's perfect.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -He was having his own mind and saying what he wants and doing what he thinks.

And you're not usually allowed to do that in the ballet world.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -He makes it a very sort of heartfelt, quite tormented story about someone pulled into between romantic love and lust, which Nureyev was going through at that point because he was desperately in love with the male dancer Erik Bruhn, but he had this wandering, philandering side that he couldn't stop.

And I think that must have resonated with him with that dual character of the White Swan and the Black Swan.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -He just left an imprint on the dance world.

And it will never die.

It will always be there.

♪♪ ♪♪ -He never will be forgotten.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -To find out more about this and other "Great Performances" programs, visit PBS.org/greatperformances.

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