At first glance, Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote is an unlikely source for a ballet: its two leads are an old man and a portly squire, both comically ill-equipped for the adventures on which they embark. There is a kind of rough nobility to them but it comes in direct contrast to their physical capabilities. And yet Rudolf Nureyev, one of the most powerful, athletic ballet dancers of all time, turned it into a vehicle for his own prowess.
He did this largely by ignoring the book, pushing Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to the side, and creating a central pair of lovers who have only the most rudimentary relationship to Cervantes’ novel. (To be fair, Nureyev was only following the example set by Marius Petipa, whose own choreography helped cement the young dancer’s international reputation.) Nureyev then famously filmed his work – with the aid of Robert Helpmann and the Australian Ballet – in an airport hanger in Essendon back in 1973.
