Vaslav Nijinsky

Vaslav Nijinsky as Vayou in Nikolai Legat's revival of Marius Petipa's The Talisman, St. Petersburg, 1910

Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky (Вацлав Фомич Нижинский; transliterated: Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky; Polish: Wacław Niżyński) (December 28, 1889 - April 8, 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent. Nijinsky was one of the most gifted male dancers in history, and he grew to be celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could perform en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time (Albright, 2004) and his ability to perform seemingly gravity-defying leaps was also legendary. The choreographer Bronislava Nijinska was his sister.

Contents

Biography

Vaslav Nijinsky in the role of Petrushka.

Vaslav Nijinsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine, son of Polish dancer Tomasz Niżyński and Eleonora Bereda. Nijinsky was christened in Warsaw. In 1900 he joined the Imperial Ballet School, where he studied under Enrico Cecchetti, Nicholas Legat, and Pavel Gerdt. At 18 years old he was given a string of leads. In 1910, the company's Prima ballerina assoluta Mathilde Kschessinskaya selected Nijinsky to dance in a revival of Marius Petipa's Le Talisman, during which Nijinsky created a sensation in the role of the Wind God Vayou.

A turning point for Nijinsky was his meeting Sergei Diaghilev, a celebrated and highly innovative producer of ballet and opera as well as art exhibitions, who concentrated on promoting Russian visual and musical art abroad,[1] particularly in Paris. Nijinsky and Diaghilev grew to become lovers, and Diaghilev, a controlling, dominant personality, became heavily involved in directing and managing Nijinsky's career. In 1909 Diaghilev took his dance company Ballets Russes, company to Paris, with Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova as the leads. The show was a great success and improved the reputations of both leads, as well as Diaghilev's, throughout the artistic circles of Europe. Diaghilev created Les Ballets Russes in the wake of this public response, and with choreographer Michel Fokine, made it one of the most well-known companies of that time.

Nijinsky's talent showed in Fokine's pieces such as “Le Pavillon d'Armide” (music by Nikolai Tcherepnin), “Cleopatra” (music by Anton Arensky and other Russian composers) and a divertissement “The Feast.” His expressive execution of a pas de deux from the “Sleeping Beauty” (Tchaikovsky) was a tremendous success; in 1910 he performed in “Giselle”, and Fokine’s ballets “Carnaval" and “Scheherazade” (based on the orchestral suite by Rimsky-Korsakov). His partnership with Tamara Karsavina, also of the Mariinsky Theatre, was legendary, and they have been called the "most exemplary artists of the time". [2]

Then Nijinsky went back to the Mariinsky Theatre, but was dismissed for appearing on-stage during a performance as Albrecht in Giselle wearing tights without the modesty trunks obligatory for male dancers in the company. The Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna complained that his appearance was obscene, and he was dismissed. It is probable that the scandal was arranged by Diaghilev in order that Nijinsky could be free to appear with his company, in the west, where many of his projects now centered around him. He danced lead roles in Fokine's new productions Le Spectre de la Rose (Weber), and Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka, in which his impersonation of a dancing but lifeless puppet was widely admired.

Nijinsky took the creative reins and choreographed ballets, which slew boundaries and stirred controversy. His ballets were L'après-midi d'un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun, based on Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune) (1912), Jeux (1913), Till Eulenspiegel (1916) and Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring, with music by Igor Stravinsky (1913). Nijinsky created choreography that exceeded the limits of traditional ballet and propriety. For the first time, his audiences were experiencing the futuristic, new direction of modern dance. The radically angular movements expressed the heart of Stravinsky's radically modern scores. Unfortunately, Nijinsky's new trends in dance caused a riotous reaction at the Théâtre de Champs-Elysées when they premiered in Paris. As the title character in L'après-midi d'un faune the final tableau (or scene), during which he mimed masturbation with the scarf of a nymph, caused a scandal; he was accused by half of Paris of obscenity, but defended by such artists as Auguste Rodin, Odilon Redon and Proust.

Tombstone of Vaslav Nijinsky in Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris. The statue, donated by Serge Lifar, shows Nijinsky as the puppet Petrouchka.

In 1913 the Ballets Russes toured South America. Diaghilev did not make this fateful journey, because he was told by a fortune teller in his younger days, that he would die on the ocean if he ever sailed. Without his mentor's supervision, Nijinsky entered into a relationship with Romola Pulszky, a Hungarian countess. An ardent fan of Nijinsky, she took up ballet and used her family connections to get close to him. Despite her efforts to attract him, Nijinsky appeared unconscious of her presence. Finally Romola booked passage on board a ship that Nijinsky was due to travel on, and during the voyage Romola succeeded in engaging his affections.

Numerous speculations as to the true reason for their marriage have arisen, including the suggestion that Nijinsky saw Romola's title and supposed wealth as a means to escape Diaghilev's repression.

Romola has often been vilified as the woman who forced Nijinsky to abandon his artistry for cabaret fare, her pragmatic and plebeian ways often jarring with his sensitive nature. In his diary, Nijinsky famously said of Romola "My wife is an untwinkling star ...". They were married in Buenos Aires when the company returned to Europe. Diaghilev is reported to have flown into a jealous rage, culminating in Nijinsky's dismissal. Nijinsky tried in vain to create his own troupe, but a crucial London engagement failed due to administrative problems.

During World War I Nijinsky was interned in Hungary. Diaghilev succeeded in getting Nijinsky out for a North American tour in 1916. During this time, Nijinsky choreographed and danced the leading role in Till Eulenspiegel. However, it was around this time in his life that signs of his dementia praecox were becoming apparent to members of the company.

Nijinsky had a nervous breakdown in 1919, and his career effectively ended. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and taken to Switzerland by his wife, where he was treated unsuccessfully by psychiatrist Eugene Bleuler. He spent the rest of his life in and out of psychiatric hospitals and asylums. Nijinsky died in a London clinic on April 8, 1950 and was buried in London until 1953 when his body was moved to Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris, France beside the graves of Gaetano Vestris, Theophile Gautier, and Emma Livry.

Legacy

Nijinsky's daughter Kyra married the Ukrainian conductor Igor Markevich, and they had a son named Vaslav. The marriage ended in divorce.

Nijinsky's Diary was written during the six weeks he spent in Switzerland before being committed to the asylum. Obscure and confused, it is obviously the work of a schizophrenic, but in many ways reflects a loving nature, combining elements of autobiography with appeals for compassion toward the less fortunate, and for vegetarianism and animal rights. Nijinsky writes of the importance of feeling as opposed to reliance on reason and logic alone, and he denounces the practice of art criticism as being nothing more than a way for those who practice it to indulge their own egos rather than focusing on what the artist was trying to say. The diary also contains a bitter exposé of Nijinsky's relationship with Diaghilev.

As a dancer Nijinsky was clearly extraordinary for his time. Towards the end of her life his dance partner Tamara Karsavina suggested that any young dancer out of the Royal Ballet School could now perform the technical feats with which he astonished his contemporaries. His main talent was probably not so much technical (Stanislas Idzikowski could leap as high and as far) as in mime and characterization; his major failing was that, being himself unable to form a satisfactory partnership with a woman, he was unsuccessful where such a relationship was important on-stage (in, say, Giselle). In epicene roles such as the god in Le Dieu Bleu, the rose in Spectre or the favourite slave in Scheherezade he was unsurpassed.

While immortalized in numerous still photographs, no film exists of Nijinsky dancing. Diaghilev never allowed the Ballets Russes to be filmed. He felt that the quality of film at the time could never capture the artistry of his dancers and that the reputation of the company would suffer if people saw it only in short jerky films.[3]

In popular culture

Plays

Written by Glenn J. Blumstein. Productions: The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C. 1987); Teatr na Małej Bronnej (Moscow - 1997-1999); Występy w Teatrze Bagatela (Krakow, Poland, 1999)).

Written by Robert David MacDonald, Citizens' Theatre Company, Glasgow.

Movies

The screenplay was written by Edward Albee. The film was to be directed by Tony Richardson and star Rudolph Nureyev as Vaslav, Claude Jade as Romola and Paul Scofield as Diaghilev, but producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman canceled the project.

Directed by Herbert Ross, starring George de la Pena as Vaslav, Leslie Browne as Romola, Alan Bates as Diaghilev and Jeremy Irons as Fokine. Romola Nijinsky had a writing credit for the film.

Directed and written by Paul Cox. The screenplay was based directly on Nijinsky's diaries and read over related imagery. The subject matter included his work, his sickness, and his relationships with Diaghilev as well as his wife.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.groningermuseum.nl/index.php?id=1260
  2. ↑ http://74.54.115.114/node/1255
  3. ↑ Buckle, Richard Nijinsky (1971).
  4. ↑ Miller, Henry New York: New Directions, 1952. ISBN 0-8112-0108-2

Sources

External links