1 streaming video file (NTSC) (29 min.) : sd., col.
Summary
In an interview interspersed with rehearsal footage taped in the studios of City Center, Rudolf Nureyev discusses the reconstruction and performance of three ballets originally danced by Vaslav Nijinsky, to be presented by Nureyev and the Joffrey Ballet on a program commemorating the 50th anniversary of Serge Diaghilev's death. Nureyev had previously danced the title roles in Michel Fokine's Spectre de la rose and Petrouchka, but was performing Nijinsky's choreography for L'après-midi d'un faune for the first time. He describes sources he drew upon for each ballet, among them Nijinsky's photographs in the roles, and the expertise of individuals (Nicholas Beriosoff and André Eglevsky, via Mikhail Baryshnikov, for Spectre; Serge Grigoriev and Lubov Tchernicheva for Petrouchka). He also discusses Nijinsky as a performer and choreographer, and his relationship with Diaghilev, which he likens to that of Petrouchka and the Charlatan. Nureyev is seen in a brief performance excerpt from Le spectre de la rose, and in longer rehearsal sequences, in practice clothes, from L'après-midi d'un faune (with Charlene Gehm as the leader of the nymphs) and Petrouchka (with Denise Jackson as the ballerina and Christian Holder as the blackamoor).