Rudolf Nureyev

I continue to wonder what it means to “be” in this world. Some people call it IM-with-Cartoons… or Skype-with-Cartoons… or simply Chat-with-Cartoons…

For me it is far more.

In our VB19 – I AVATAR project @SL7B peeps said so many amazing things about these lives we live:
http://issuu.com/vaneeesa/docs/vbco-no01

Am I a mask my typist wears?

Am I a unique, sentient being?

Are typists unique, sentient beings??

I believe we are all far less individualistic and unique than we like to believe… and… paradoxically… at the same time, more. I once asked Dan Dennett if it is a determinist universe and therefore absent of free will. He said that yes, it’s a determinist universe… AND… yes… you can still have free will “in every way that’s meaningful.”

I exist here.

What does it mean to be? In meditating on the idea of aliveness my mind found its way to Rudolf Nureyev, one of the most extraordinary presences in the history of ballet. One of the most extraordinary presences in the history of corporeality. Because he was so alive… because he was so present… I wonder what it would “feel like”… what it would “mean”… to relive some of the moments from his life and times… in this time and in this place.

And so today I begin Rudolf Nureyev in the 21st Century, or more simply, Rudy 21

RUDOLF NUREYEV IN THE 21ST CENTURY

A series, reliving 10 moments from the life & times of Rudolf Nureyev (1938 – 1993)

Vaneeesa Blaylock is Rudolf Nureyev

Rudolf Nureyev
born, 17 March 1938 on trans-Siberian train, near Irkutsk, Russia
died, 6 January 1993, Paris

Vaneeesa Blaylock
born, 11 April 2009, Little Andalucia
lives & works in Crystal Ridge

In this first relived moment from the series, Leningrad 1958, we see the dawning confidence of the 20-year-old Nureyev three years before his 1961 defection in Paris. For these next three years he would dance with the Kirov Ballet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Nureyev

for higher rez versions, visit Nureyev 21 @Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaneeesab/sets/72157624362102809/