Rudolf Nureyev – Don Quixote

Director: Rudolf Nureyev, Robert Helpmann

Robert Helpmann (Don Quixote), Ray Powell (Sancho Panza), Rudolf Nureyev (Basilio)
Francis Croese (Lorenzo), Lucette Aldous (Kitri / Dulcinea)

This Don Quixote performed by the Australian Ballet, was filmed in 1972 by Rudolf Nureyev himself; this was the first time he was on the other side of the camera. Rudolf Nureyev was already dancing Don Quixote with the Kirov ballet in Leningrad at the age of twenty. Marius Petipa’s libretto and choreography had been traditionally handed down, but had also been subjected to modifications due to successive revisions, the most important of which was that of Alexandre Gorski in 1900. Basing himself on this version, Rudolf Nureyev was to create a cheerful, lively Don Quixote, full of pace. He used humour and momentum for a series of colourful scenes concerning the thwarted love life of Kitri, the innkeeper’s daughter, and Basil, the barber, combined with the epic “Knight of the sad face”.