The Nureyev Project Comes to SF Ballet School
- San Francisco Ballet School
Honoring a legend with the next generation
Rudolf Nureyev transformed ballet. His unmatched technique, magnetic stage presence, and visionary stagings reshaped the art form across generations. This spring, SF Ballet School’s upper level students experienced a piece of that legacy.
From May 11 through May 21, 2026, we hosted the first installment of the Nureyev Project–SF, a three-year educational initiative dedicated to deepening students’ understanding of Nureyev’s contributions to ballet and his enduring influence on the art form worldwide. This year’s focus: his celebrated staging of La Bayadère.
At the heart of the project were master classes and variation coaching led by Karin Averty and Pierre Vilanoba, both former SF Ballet principal dancers with deep ties to the Nureyev repertoire. Their guidance gave the students a first-hand understanding of the physical transmission of style, musicality, and intention from artist to artist.
Ballet historian Mary Wood grounded students in the larger story—who Nureyev was, where he came from, what he risked, and why his stagings of the classical repertoire remain so significant today. Her seminars set the intellectual stage for everything that followed, and her panel conversation with Karin and Pierre brought multiple perspectives into dialogue: the scholar, the dancer, and the witness.
Students also watched documentaries and archival footage of Nureyev himself—including recordings of his La Bayadère as performed by the Paris Opera Ballet—immersing themselves in the visual vocabulary and dramatic sensibility that defined his approach to the classics.
It concluded with two opportunities for the community to witness what the students had absorbed. An open coaching session welcomed an audience of school supporters, offering a candid, in-process look at the work. A subsequent in-studio showing, attended by faculty and students’ families, allowed the dancers to present their learning in a more complete form—a moment of quiet celebration for everyone who had invested in the experience.
This Nureyev Project collaboration is built to grow. Over the coming two years, SF Ballet School will continue developing programming that builds on the foundation established this spring, expanding its scope while welcoming new students into its orbit each year. The knowledge gained in these studios will propel these students forward, informing how they move, interpret, and ultimately carry the classical tradition into their own artistic futures.
