BEJART, NUREYEV ARE CO-BILLED IN ANGRY PAS DE DEUX IN PARIS

Choreographer Maurice Bejart has accused Rudolf Nureyev, dance director of the Paris Opera, of lying, blaming him for the decline of France’s dance tradition and demanding that he give up his job.

Bejart, currently presenting an evening of three new ballets as guest choreographer at the Paris Opera, made the accusations on French television. “I am asking that an intruder get out. Au revoir , Mr. Nureyev,” said Bejart at the end of a long statement.

Bejart was born in France but he is best known for the Brussels-based ballet company that bears his name and which is now appearing in Paris at the Palais des Congres.

The Russian-born Nureyev, once a dancer with the Kirov Ballet, defected to the West in 1961 and gained international fame with London’s Royal Ballet.

Bejart accused Nureyev of responsibility for a malaise at the Paris Opera and of having pushed choreographer Roland Petit and dancer Patrick Dupond out of the French dance scene.

The battle began Monday when Bejart, stepping on stage to thunderous applause at the premiere of his new ballets, told the audience that dancers Eric Vu An and Manuel Legris had been promoted to be etoiles, the top rank.

Not so, countered an angry Nureyev the following day, adding that the director of dance determines the status of Paris Opera dancers, not guest choreographers.

The furor was the latest in a series of artistic and labor problems at the opera, where Nureyev, 48 this month, has been dance director for three years.

Bejart insisted that Nureyev and the opera administration had been aware of his plan to elevate the two male dancers to star status, and that he and Nureyev discussed it.

“I never wanted to get into this haggling,” said Nureyev, “and we never talked about these nominations. . . . “

Wednesday Bejart replied: “I accuse Mr. Nureyev of having lied, of having deliberately organized this affair so that his name, absent from the evening, would be quoted in the press.”

Bejart said he would not be represented at the Paris Opera next year. “I don’t want my name to remain associated with Mr. Nureyev,” he said.