Rudolf Nureyev... His magical name has been exciting the imagination of everyone who has heard anything about him for more than half a century. There were much more rumors about this unique personality than genuine knowledge. What was he really like? An outstanding dancer who became a legend during his lifetime. Perhaps none of the Russian-Soviet ballet dancers (even those who later, like him, emigrated to the West) had the fame that befell Nureyev. A boy from a poor large family became a real dance genius. Everything in his creative biography developed not thanks to, but in spite of. Despite everything, he entered the Leningrad Ballet School, gained the status of leading soloist of the legendary Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater, his famous “leap to freedom” and, as a result, fantastic success in the West. The book presents the memoirs of the French choreographer Roland Petit and an abridged version of Rudolf Nureyev's Autobiography.