How to Pronounce Vaslav Nijinsky
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Mar 12, 1889 Kiev, Ukraine Died on 08 Apr 1950 (aged 61)
Russian ballet dancer and choreographer
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About Vaslav Nijinsky
- Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; Russian: ??´???? ????´? ????´?????, tr.
- Václav Fomíc Nižínskij, IPA: ['vatsl?f f?'m?it? n??'??nsk??j]; Polish: Waclaw Nizynski, IPA: ['vatswaf ?i'??j~sk?i]; 12 March 1889/1890 – 8 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreographer cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century.
- Born in Kiev to Polish parents, Nijinsky grew up in Imperial Russia but considered himself to be Polish.
- He was celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations.
- He could dance en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time and was admired for his seemingly gravity-defying leaps. Nijinsky was introduced to dance by his parents, who were senior dancers with the travelling Setov opera company, and his early childhood was spent touring with the company.
- His older brother Stanislav and younger sister Bronislava "Bronia" Nijinska also became dancers; Bronia also became a choreographer, working closely with him for much of his career.
- At age nine Nijinsky was accepted at the Imperial Ballet School (now known as the Mariinsky School) in St.
- Petersburg, the pre-eminent ballet school in the world.
- In 1907, he graduated and became a member of the Imperial Ballet, starting at the rank of coryphée instead of in the corps de ballet, already taking starring roles. In 1909 he joined the Ballets Russes, a new ballet company started by Sergei Diaghilev.
- The impresario took the Russian ballets to Paris, where high-quality productions such as those of the Imperial Ballet were not known.
- Nijinsky became the company's star male dancer, causing an enormous stir amongst audiences whenever he performed.
- In ordinary life he appeared unremarkable and was withdrawn in conversation.
- Diaghilev and Nijinsky became lovers; the Ballets Russes gave Nijinsky the chance to expand his art and experiment with dance and choreography; he created new directions for male dancers while becoming internationally famous. In 1912 Nijinsky began choreographing original ballets, including L'après-midi d'un faune (1912) to music by Claude Debussy, Le Sacre du Printemps (1913) to music by Igor Stravinsky, Jeux (1913), and Till Eulenspiegel (1916).
- Faune, considered one of the first modern ballets, caused controversy because of its sexually suggestive final scene.
- At the premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps fights broke out in the audience between those who loved and hated this startling new style of ballet and music.
- Nijinsky originally conceived Jeux as a flirtatious interaction among three males, although Diaghilev insisted it be danced by one male and two females.
- In 1913, Nijinsky married Hungarian Romola de Pulszky while on tour with the company in South America.
- The marriage caused a break with Diaghilev, who soon dismissed Nijinsky from the company.
- The couple had two daughters together, Kyra and Tamara Nijinska. With no alternative employer available, Nijinsky tried to form his own company, but this was not a success.
- He was interned in Budapest, Hungary during World War I, under house arrest until 1916.
- After intervention by Diaghilev and several international leaders, he was allowed to go to New York for an American tour with the Ballets Russes.
- Nijinsky became increasingly mentally unstable with the stresses of having to manage tours himself and deprived of opportunities to dance.
- After a tour of South America in 1917, and due to travel difficulties imposed by the war, the family settled in St.
- Moritz, Switzerland.
- His mental condition deteriorated; he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1919 and committed to a mental asylum.
- For the next 30 years he was in and out of institutions, never dancing in public again.
