The Real Nureyev

The Real Nureyev is an intensely personal, under-the-skin depiction of ballet's greatest hero. Written by Carolyn Soutar, Nureyev's stage manager and confidante throughout the 1980s, it focuses on the last, intensely creative six-year period in the dancer's life; when he was still at the peak of his powers, yet just a few years away from an untimely death. The author draws upon her own experiences and - exclusively - those of Robert Tracy, Nureyev's lover during the last 14 years of his life; Bill Akers and Roger Myers, who first met Nureyev in 1962 in Australia; and Yoko Morishita, Prima Ballerina with the Matsuyama Ballet Company, Tokyo, who partnered Rudolf for most of the '80s. From Akers and Myers, we learn of the changes in Nureyev: from a young man eager to learn, searching for perfection all around him in a body he believed to be flawed, to the knowledgeable and difficult superstar that he would become. They quash the rumours and set the record straight on Nureyev's relationship with Margot Fonteyn, while Morashita describes what it was like to dance with Nureyev, recalling their first meeting, their friendship both on and offstage and his pride, care and attention when tea