Nijinsky (1980) is a biographical film. This film explores the life and career of Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky (12th March, 1890 – 8th April, 1950). He was a Russian ballet dancer of legendary fame, celebrated for his spectacular leaps and sensitive interpretations. After school, Nijinsky became a soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, in 1907, appearing in such classical ballets as Giselle, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty.
This film suggests Nijinsky was driven into madness by his consuming ambition and self- enforced heterosexuality. Nijinsky became part of Sergei Diaghilev’s circle and his lover and in 1909 he travelled to Paris with the Diaghilev company. On the first night he danced the Favorite Slave in Fokine’s ballet Le Pavillon d Armide. He was so excited by the audience’s enthusiasm that at the end of his solo he jumped off stage and was still travelling upwards as he reached the wings. After a series of misunderstandings with Diaghilev, who is both his domineering mentor and possessive lover, in 1911 Nijinsky was dismissed from the Russian Imperial theatres, allegedly for a breach of discipline.
Nijinsky was the darling of French society – and the slave’s black choker became the height of fashion. He was feted like a rock star and his dresser used to sell petals from his Le Spectre de la Rose costume to his fans.
Meanwhile, Romola de Pulszky, a beautiful girl who joined ‘Ballets Russes’ specifically to be with Nijinsky. In 1913 Nijinsky fell in love with and married Romola de Pulsky. Nijinsky tried to start a company in London but a week he became ill, unable to cope with the stresses of performance and running a company. Tragically, by 1919 he became mentally disturbed and never danced again. He died in England in 1950.
Nijinsky’s work was controversial. In The Rite of Spring his dancers stood with feet turned in rather than the usual turnout position and moved in asymmetric groups. In L’apres Midi d’un Faun the dancers moved as though on a Greek frieze, in profile to the audience. Nothing like it had been seen before.
Nijinsky’s oneness with his dance made him a 20th-century legend.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
