This January 6, 2023, France 4 is broadcasting a report on Rudolf Nureyev, the great star dancer, who died on January 6, 1993, at the age of 54.
This Friday, January 6, 2023, France 4 offers a report on one of the greatest dancers of the 20th century: Rudolf Nureyev. All over the world, he will perform, marveling young and old with his superhuman talent. But on January 6, 1993, France learned that this great dancer died in Levallois-Perret. At the age of 54, he dies after staging his own version of La Bayadère, the ballet in which he appeared more than 30 years ago, for the Paris Opera. He will disappear as a result of his HIV infection. Indeed, 10 years earlier, the star dancer will lose a lot of weight. With a high and very persistent fever, he will carry out medical examinations.
The diagnosis is clear: he is infected with HIV. A few years later, rumors about it begin to leak. But Rudolf Nureyev does not want to believe it, he cannot be sick. For a long time he will deny being infected, convincing himself that he is not sick. But around the 90s, the fight will really start. He will try several experimental treatments, which unfortunately do not slow the effects of the disease on his body. Very thin, he can no longer walk properly. But the dancer will continue to show himself in public. On October 8, 1992, for the premiere of his production of La Bayadère at the Palais Garnier after Marius Petipa, the public gave him a standing ovation.
A death that will move all of France
He died in a clinic in Levallois-Perret, three months later, on January 6, 1993. A death that will move all of France. “Fawn, he had a burning look and movements too. Powerful and quivering, the Tatar prince, the lord of the dance, who fled the communists, Rudolf Nureyev died in Paris. He was only 54 years old”, will announce the presenter of the television news of France 3, Christine Ockrent. He will be buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève des Bois, in Essonne. His tomb is a work of art, created by decorator Ezio Frigerio.