McCann is a storyteller like very few we have. Rudolf Nureyev was considered one of the greatest dancers of all time. In his novel, McCann traces the path of an artist's life that remains enigmatic. Told from the perspective of the genius's companions, it creates a vivid kaleidoscope that narrates the contrasts of East and West, party life and artistic solitude, genius, drive, and death. A life like a novel - a wild dance. The book is as weightless as a grand jeté of its hero.