Watch: Students in the Ballet Studio Learn Rudolf Nureyev's La Bayadère

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. This spring 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.