A little bit about Rudik

                                                                     L. Romankova

 

All our family and friends adore ballet so Rudik`s visits to o our home were   indeed not just pleasant, but also very interesting. As I  remember him, he was an extremely modest young men dressed — as we later discovered — in the best clothes he owned at the time: a black and white wide-sleeved woollen overcoat. He had beautiful teeth and enchanting smile that immediately won you over.

 

My two youngest children, Liubov and Leonid, became great friends wish Rudik and remained so all of his life. They met him near the end of his term at Ballet School, just before his final examination  performance. That night, he made a fine — though not necessarily stunning — performance, dancing a solo from ‘‘Le Corsaire’’

 

He later said to me.  ‘‘I`ve got to let Moscow see me’’ Oho!, I thought. This boy has a high opinion of himself. I don`t know about Moscow, but he made a stunning enough impression here in St. Petersburg at our Maryinsky Theatre. I remember his first «Giselle» with Kolpakova. After their short, simple duet in the first act, the whole theatre burst into applause. Doctor Shrauberg, a ballet connoisseur, jumped up shouting,  ‘‘What`s going on! What I this!’’ Albrecht`s solo in the second act was so perfect I never  had any desire to see it performed again.

 

When we met Rudik again some thirty years later, he said to me ‘‘You know, young ballet dancer often ask me to come and watch them dance. I`m amazed now arrogant and self-confident they are.’’ And I thought to myself, Rudik, you were no different when you were young that age.

 

Without any notice, Rudik wound drop in on us whenever he fancied. He once appeared when we were painting Easter eggs.  He didn’t join in; he just sat there at the table with a pencil  in his hand, signing his name over and over again on a scrap of paper. I took advantage of the opportunity to ask if he’d mind autographing postcard for my friend Yulya, who was one of Rudik’s biggest fans. Speaking of Yulya, Rudik came over to our house one night after performing ‘‘Don Quixote’’ with Kurgapkina.  I told him, ‘‘Rudik, you were brilliant’’. He responded wish some disparaging remark, so I added, ‘‘And Yulya, too, says that you were magnificent.’’ At that, he flashed me his charming smile, threw open his arms and said sarcastically, ‘‘Oh well, if Yulya says it’s all right, then it must have been.’’ Rudik had a great  sense of humor.

 

I’d like to say that his attitude towards me — a woman the same age as his mother — was incredibly respectful. There’s no other word I can use to describe it. In fact, in some ways like the respect which a child has for an adult. Most interesting of all is that when we mat thirty years later. Nureyev the world-famous dancer was just as deferential towards me as he’d always been. He obviously was still like the boy that I knew back in  Leningrad at the end of the 1950’s. even V. Renn, who saw him so often in Paris, aid he’d never seen before such an expression on Rudik’s face as he had during that dinner in 1989. I can’t tell you how my heart breaks when I think of Rudik. What a horrifically cruel fate for a young men, whose life was such  a triumph of beauty and splendor.

 

It is article from the book " Three years at the Kirov theatre ". The author of a site thanks L.P.Myasnikova and T.I.Zakrzhevskaja for this gift.         

 

I search Natalia Makarovoj's  address. Help me, please. pion500@mail.ru