Ballet Archives

  Vaslav Nijinsky during a photo shoot, 1909 Vaslav Nijinsky's mother, to earn money for the family, taught ballet lessons at the house. Nijinsky would watch his mother teach so he could learn what to apply to his teaching. He started to divide up his time by teaching his students. One of his students was his sister Bronislava Nijinska, and his other students were Lydia Alexandrovna Shiraeva, and the younger sister of Nijinsky's first admirer's Elena Sechnenova-Ivanova. Bronislava, at times, described she felt unfairness with her brother because he always picked on her in class but later, she was appreciative of his teaching her lessons because all of his corrections helped her as a dancer. She describes this memory in her own words.   "At the Imperial Dance School the only lessons in the Teaching of Dance were for Ballroom Dancing , and that was only taught in the last year before graduation from the School, so Vaslav and I were particularly interested in watching Mot

Photo Credit: Vaslav Nijinsky from the  ballet " Raymonda ", 1907, Maryrinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg Vaslav Nijinsky and his sister Bronislava Nijinska's Father, Thomas Nijinsky, also a dancer, came to St. Petersburg to see his children dance. Bronislava describes that memory and how excited she was to have her Father back with the family. She describes this whole event in her own words. "I barely remember the performance itself, but I do recall Father in the intermission hugging and embracing me tenderly, and saying, "You were very good and you must continue to work hard."  "Of Vaslav's dancing in the Student Performance I remember more from the rehearsals than from the evening itself. In A Midsummer Night's Dream he had a very impressive solo. Fokine's choreography inspired Nijinsky. His dancing did not try to astonish or amaze by emphasizing the technical difficulties. Nijinsky illuminated the whole stage, flashing and scintillating in

  Photo credit : Vaslav Nijinsky in his practice clothes, at the Krasnoe Selo Theatre from Bronislava Nijinska Memoirs During 1904-1905 Bronislava Nijinska and Vaslav Nijinsky were starting their fifth and seventh year at the Imperial Theatrical School. This year was very different because many resignations came about of the school's most loved and distinguished teachers. Bronislava describes this event in her own words and how it affected both her and her brother. "I was starting my fifth year in the Imperial Theatrical School. For the last three I had studied dance with Mikhail Mikhailovitch Fokine. I had been one of his first pupils in 1901 after Fokine, then only twenty-one years old, had accepted a teaching position in the School. I had loved Fokine's classes and was sorry that I was no longer going to be studying with him. I was assigned to the advanced class taught by Klavdia Mikhailovna Kulichevskaya. I had already had some lessons with her. In 1901 Kulichevskaya h

  Photo Credit: Vaslav Nijinsky as the God Vayyou in Nikolai Legat's revival of Marius Petipa Chorography and composer Ricardo Drigo's ballet Le Talisman, 1909 In 1905 Vaslav Nijinsky's Mother came to see her children dance at the Maryinsky Theatre. It was the first time his sister Bronislava Nijinska and his mother would see him dance at the Maryinsky Theatre. Bronislava describes in her own words how she and her mother felt that night. "I combed my hair, put on my makeup, pulled on my pink tights, tried on my toe shoes, but I wasn't dreaming of my own future. I was worrying about Vaslav... How is he doing his makeup... How is he fixing his hair?... How will he look in his costume?... Will he freeze just before stepping on the stage... Will he be flustered in the excitement of his first appearance in a classical pas de deux?.. " "I prayed silently and I knew that Mother would be praying too, even more fervently than I. She would be terribly anxious. This