Paralleling the excitement of Isadora Duncan: Vaslav Nijinsky and the Ballets Russe

Nijinsky dans l'Après-midi d'un faune (Ballets russes, Opéra)
Originally uploaded by dalbera

Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky ( 1890 - 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent.

He grew to be celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations, says Wikipedia. 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.

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,[2] particularly in Paris.

Diaghilev was heavily involved in directing and managing Nijinsky's career.

In 1909 Diaghilev took a company of Russian opera and ballet stars to Paris featuring Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova. The season of colorful Russian ballets and operas, works mostly new to the West, was a great success. It led Diaghilev to create his famous company the Ballets Russes. The Paris seasons of the Ballets Russes were an artistic and social sensation; setting trends in art, dance, music and fashion for the next decade.

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). In The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps), with music by 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 score.

Unfortunately, Nijinsky's new trends in dance caused a riotous reaction at the Théâtre de Champs-Élysées 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,[citation needed] but defended by such artists as Auguste Rodin.

During World War I, Nijinsky was interned in Hungary. Diaghilev succeeded in getting him out for a North American tour in 1916.

It was around this time in his life that signs of his schizophrenia were becoming apparent to members of the company. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1919, and his career effectively ended.[citation needed] He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and taken to Switzerland by his wife, where he was treated unsuccessfully.

He spent the rest of his life in and out of psychiatric hospitals and asylums. Nijinsky died in a clinic in London on April 8, 1950. His body was moved to Montmartre Cemetery, Paris.