Today would have been the 85th birthday of one of the greatest dancers and choreographers of the 20th century: Rudolf Nureyev. Giselle was the ballet chosen for Rudolf Nureyev's first performance with the Royal Ballet, his partner for that 1962 performance was Margot Fonteyn, who was almost twenty years his senior at that moment. Enjoy this snippet from the ballet, available on medici.tv. https://bit.ly/3wVRM59 | medici.tv

Rudolf Nureyev and Alla Sizova. Pas de deux from “Le Corsaire”. at Vaganova school graduation performance in 1958. Alla Sizova (1939 – 2014) was a Russian ballet dancer, best known for her work with the Kirov Ballet. She was one of the four superstar ballerinas of the Soviet Union, as well as the preferred dance partner of Rudolf Nureyev before his defection. For her graduation she partnered her fellow student, Rudolf Nureyev, in the duet from Le Corsaire, a performance that gained both young da