Solution Reached in Nureyev Opera Dispute

After months of rumor and speculation, l’affaire Nureyev has come to a resolution--at least for the moment.

After a meeting Tuesday afternoon, Rudolf Nureyev and Pierre Berge, president of the Paris Opera, announced jointly that the ballet superstar would step down as director of dance for the Paris Opera Ballet. Nureyev will assume the post of first choreographer, which has been created especially for him.

According to Jean-Albert Cartier, general administrator of the Paris Opera-Garnier, a replacement for Nureyev has yet to be chosen. In the meantime, his functions will continue to be carried out by ballet masters Patrice Bart and Eugene Polyakov, whom Berge had appointed interim dance directors last month, citing the “worrisome situation” caused by Nureyev’s frequent absences from Paris.

The decision represents a graceful solution to an increasingly public dispute between Nureyev and Berge, which revolved around issues of artistic control as well as Nureyev’s heavy travel schedule. It also puts a dignified end to Nureyev’s sometimes brilliant and often troubled tenure at the ballet, while apparently insuring that his productions will continue to be seen at the Paris Opera.

The timing of the announcement was not without its ironies. It was while in France in 1961, touring with the Kirov Ballet, that Nureyev defected to the West--the same year that the Berlin Wall was built. Yet the meeting with Berge took place just after Nureyev’s return from Leningrad where--within days of the Wall being opened--he had danced with the Kirov for the first time since he left the Soviet Union.