The Real Nureyev: An Intimate Memoir of Ballet's Greatest Hero

The Real Nureyev is an intensely personal, under-the-skin depiction of ballet's greatest hero. Carolyn Soutar draws upon her own experiences as Nureyev's stage manager and - exclusively - those of Robert Tracy, Nureyev's former lover and companion; Bill Akers and Roger Myers, who first met and worked with Nureyev in 1962 in Australia; and Yoko Morishita, prima ballerina with the Matsuyama Ballet Company, Tokyo, who partnered Rudolf for much of the '80s.Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, yet always deeply human, The Real Nureyev is the most revealing book ever to be published about the twentieth century's greatest ballet icon, as witnessed by those who knew and loved him. It creates a vivid and enduring picture of his life and work.

The Real Nureyev is an intensely personal, under-the-skin depiction of ballet’s greatest hero. Written by Carolyn Soutar, who worked with Nureyev at the London Coliseum during the 1980s, this biography focuses a six-year period of his life when his career was drawing to a close and this once phenomenal dancer began to call himself “Old Galoshes,” in recognition of his fading powers. From his close friends we learn of the changes in Nureyev: from a young man eager to learn, searching for perfection in a body he believed to be flawed, to the knowledgeable and difficult superstar that he would become.

Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, yet always deeply human, The Real Nureyev is an intimate insider’s story of what the ballet icon was really about.

“Carolyn Soutar, with her unique perspective, has captured the fragility, the compulsion for perfection, and the tremendous work ethic embodied in Rudolph Nureyev. This moving book is a very full portrait of the great Nureyev.”
--Violette Verdy, distinguished professor of ballet, Indiana University (Bloomington)

“Full of backstage tradecraft and camaraderie, bags of atmosphere.”
--The Guardian (UK)

“[Soutar] catches the fascination of the dancer who--even glimpsed in his declining years--will remain unique.”
--Manchester Evening News (UK)