Rudolf Nureyev

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev 17 March 1938 6 January 1993 was a Tatar dancer from the former Soviet Union considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century Nureyevs artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women He defected to the West despite KGB efforts to stop him According to KGB archives studied by Peter Watson Nikita Khrushchev personally signed an order to have Nureyev killed Description above from the Wikipedia article Rudolf Nureyev licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia