Anna Pavlova Dancing with Vaslav Nijinsky

 

Photo Credit: Nijinsky and Pavlova in Chopiniana, 1908 from Anna Pavlova Her Life And Art by Keith Money

Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky were both  former students of The Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, Russia and they both performed at the Mariinsky Theater and had danced together there.

They both lived and breathed dance and were described as enchanted and ethereal when they danced. Both Nijinsky and Pavlova projected wildness and calmness when they danced. To both of them, dancing was as essential as breathing. That feeling of freedom from dancing was something they both shared into adulthood. It was like they were each other's mirrored image. I think this is what sets them apart the most as dancing as partners compared to Pavlova and Nijinsky's other partners. These two had a deeper understanding of dance that didn't need words, just movements.

"The Chopin waltz in Les Sylphides demonstrated exactly why these two dancers, Nijinsky and Pavlova, have achieved such a unique position in the ballet world. They are poets and musicians as well as dancers."- The Lady Journal

Once the partnership dissolved with Anna Pavlova and Mikail Mordkin at the Palace, she could now have a new partner. Although an earlier partnership contract between Pavlova and Nijinsky didn't happen and she instead was in a contract with Mordkin as a dance partner, the opportunity for Pavlova to dance with Nijinsky rose again when the founder of the Ballet Russes Sergei Diaghilev approached her to join his company. 

Photo Credit: Cover of Le Theatre, May 1909, showing Vaslav Nijinsky with Anna Pavlova in Le Pavillon d'Armide

Anna Pavlova wanted Vaslav Nijinsky as her partner; however, in Diaghilev's thinking, a partnership between Nijinsky and Pavlova was doomed to fade away because Diaghilev wanted all the attention on Nijinsky. Still, his worry was Pavlova would take that attention away from Nijinsky because the audience would be watching her.

"Mme. Pavlova's every gesture and action was instinct with significance. Decked with resplendent feathers, she invested her movements with a rare sense of suggestion. Of no other dancer can it be said that her performances are the ideal combination of music, dancing, and acting. M. Nijinsky, too was in one of his most agile moods, though the more one sees of the methods of the Russian ballet the more one is persuaded that the scope of the man dancer is more limited than that of the woman."- Quote from The Evening Standard

 It almost seems like Diaghilev felt there was some competition between Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky. However, Pavlova did not feel that way. Instead, she enjoyed dancing with Nijinsky so much that she asked Diaghilev and Mikhale Fokine if she could switch her role Ta-Hor in Cleopatre for the minor part of the favored female slave. Now having this role would allow her to once again dance with Nijinsky. Both Diaghilev and Fokine approved her request, and Anna Pavlova would now have the opportunity to dance with Nijinsky again.  

Photo Credit: Pavlova and Nijinsky posed in Fischer's Studios fro a series of Le Pavillon d'Armide. c.1908 This was the only time these two faced a camera together which is why these photos from the photo shoot are the most historic in ballet photography from Pavlova Repertoire of a Legend

The Daily News wrote their thoughts on the Cleopatre ballet, calling it "an unqualified success. "

"Pavlova and Nijinsky are less important figures in this sumptuous Cleopatre, but their cringing admiration of their mistress was full of subtle by-play, and the veil dance as fascinating as anything in the production."- The Daily News

Cleopatre, wasn't the only ballet they danced together for Diaghilev. They were so successful as dance partners from Cleopatre. Pavlova and Nijinsky danced together again in Les Sylphides and L'Oiseau d'Or. All of them were a sensation with the audience and massive success that even King George had to write about his experience seeing them dance together in his diary.

 "Madame Pavlova and Mr. Nijinsky certainly dance beautifully." King George

 

The Lady, which was a journal that specialized in the art of theater, reflected their view of Nijinsky and Pavlova's performance describing their artistic partnership seemed to possess elements of magic. They commented further:

" This perfect time is also one of the chief charms of Nijinsky's dancing, and Pavlova in her dances with him seem more joyous, more spirited, more free than she ever was in her pas de deux with Mordkin at the Palace, for this dancer, with all his merits, has not anything like the rhythmic excellence of Nijinsky."- The Lady Journal

"Her numbers with M. Nijinsky were a delightful exposition of the art of dancing in its purest aspect."- The Morning Post

I think when Pavlova danced with Nijinsky, she felt free and joyful. I believe Nijinsky absorbed that same feeling of joy and freedom from Pavlova. The audience saw in their dancing not feminine versus masculinity like it was with Mordkin. The audience saw Nijinsky dancing with Pavlova, that their dancing was wild and free. Both dancers were not dominated by the other, so they could fully embody that and express that fully in their dancing as partners. I believe this makes it all the more magical to watch on stage.

Photo Credit: Pavlova and Nijinsky posed in Fischer's Studios fro a series of Le Pavillon d'Armide. c.1908 This was the only time these two faced a camera together which is why these photos from the photo shoot are the most historic in ballet photography from Pavlova Repertoire of a Legend

 The Lady Journal recounted the experience of seeing them dance together: 

"They are gentle and wild at the same time, this Prince and his Bird. They have been nourished on magic philtres and have learned the lore of feathered things. Those who have seen L'Oiseau d'Or at Covent Garden last Wednesday should keep the vision in their memory zealously, joyously, for they are not likely to see anything so beautiful again in a lifetime." - The Lady Journal

Their partnership was short-lived, and only a few photos of them as dance partners exist, which is regrettable since they indeed had something special when they danced together. Still, they gave their audiences a truly mesmerizing experience seeing two talented and gifted dancers dancing together in beautiful harmony. This memory would live on in the audience's memories.

Photo Credit: Pavlova and Nijinsky posed in Fischer's Studios fro a series of Le Pavillon d'Armide. c.1908 This was the only time these two faced a camera together which is why these photos from the photo shoot are the most historic in ballet photography from Pavlova Repertoire of a Legend