Solaria, the rottweiler of Rudolf Nureyev

Nureyev and Solaria

Nureyev had obtained the dog in September 1992 from a pound for sick dogs. He named the dog “Solaria,” after Solor, the hero of La Bayadère. Nureyev could not name the dog Solor, his first choice, because the dog was a female.Jeanette Etheredge testified about Solaria as follows: Rudolf had called me; he told me that he had bought a dog. He had always wanted a dog. Now he had gotten this little Rottweiler. He was very excited on the phone telling me he had gotten a Rottweiler. I told him the dog better speak English by the time I get to Paris because I wasn’t going to speak French to that dog. When I got there, the dog didn’t speak French, didn’t speak Russian, didn’t speak English; it spoke nothing. After Nureyev’s death in 1993, Marika Besobrasova (Nureyev’s close friend) took possession of Solaria. Four years later, Solaria was alive and well, as she even accompanied Besobrasova to her deposition.