NUREYEV’S ILLNESS CAUSES DELAY IN OPERA BALLET DATE

Rudolf Nureyev’s undisclosed illness has led to a one-year postponement of the Paris Opera Ballet’s June engagement at the Civic Opera House in Chicago, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Originally, the Paris Opera Ballet was to have given four performances in Chicago next month. But Geraldine Freund, founder and director of the Chicago-based International Dance Festival, sponsor of the event, said that “persistent, disturbing rumors about the current illness” of Nureyev (who was scheduled to perform), plus casting conflicts and transportation difficulties, led to the postponement.

The nature of Nureyev’s illness was not disclosed; however, its seriousness was apparent when American Ballet Theatre artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov earlier this week flew to Paris to substitute for the Paris company’s 47-year-old artistic director at a Wednesday performance of “Giselle” with the Paris Opera Ballet.