Rudolf Nureyev

Rudolf Nureyev's 1961 defection from the Soviet Union to the West during a Paris stopover was the most dramatic act in ballet history -- and his dancing matched that audacity in every performance. As the resident guest artist of the Royal Ballet from 1962, he forged one of the most celebrated partnerships in art history with Margot Fonteyn, revitalising her career and redefining male classical technique with an emotional volatility no one had previously considered permissible. He later served as director of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983-1989, where his productions of the 19th-century classics remain the company's bedrock repertoire.