Nureyev tested positive for HIV in 1984, and died in 1993. He had a 25 year relationship with celebrated Danish dancer Erik Bruhn until Bruhn’s death in 1986. The rebellious dancer defected to the US in 1961, despite the best efforts of the KGB to prevent him from doing so. Nureyev is one of the most celebrated dancers of the 20th century, a man who redefined the role of men in ballet (they had previously been supporting roles to the female dancers). The script for a film about Tchaikovsky’s life, which is being made with Russian government funding, was reported to have been rewritten to exclude any suggestion that the composer was gay. Vladimir Medinsky said there was no evidence to support the claim.
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The 19th century composer, mentioned in the Sochi 2014 opening ceremony, is a household name across the world for works including the 1812 Overture and his Romeo and Juliet composition, the ballets Swan Lake, the Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty, and opera such as Eugene Onegin.ĭespite long being regarded as historical fact that Tchaikovsky was gay, the Russian culture minister recently denied this was the case. If music be the food of love, then Putin would probably choke on the works of one of Russia’s favourite sons, Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
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The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony referenced prominent gay Russians from the field of literature, ballet, music and film – including Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Vaslav Nijinsky and Sergei Eisenstein.Īrticle Six of the Olympic charter states that “any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement”.Ĭhannel 4 News lists below six, of the many, gay Russians that Vladimir Putin should be proud of: Pyotr Tchaikovsky