Nijinsky Dancing At The Maryinsky Theatre

Photo Credit: Vaslav Nijinsky dancing with Anna Pavlova at the Maryinsky Theatre, c. 1910

Bronislava Nijinska recounts seeing her brother dance at the Maryinsky Theatre but was skeptical of his dance partners. She explains this memory in her own words.

 

 "The season of the ballet and opera in the Maryinsky Theatre began this September with the opera, A Life for the Tsar. The ballet performances were given on Sundays and sometimes on Wednesdays. Nijinsky's debut as an Artist of the Imperial Theatres came in La Source, the first ballet performances of the season."

"La Source was an old ballet in three acts and four tableaux by Saint-Leon, to music by Minkus and Delibes. It had been remounted in 1902 by Achille Coppini in an attempt to produce  a ballet that was different style of Petipa."

"There were thirty-three dance numbers in the ballet. and many students were used, as well as the whole ballet company. Throughout the performance the corps de ballet marched from one end of the stage to the other, in perfect alignment, performing all kinds of gymnastics."

"Coppini had staged spectaculars for the Zoological Gardens' Theatre, and though La Source would have been appropriate for such an outdoor theatre, rather than the in the Maryinsky, nevertheless I was happy to be chosen to participate in the last act where I would be able to watch Vaslav's debut- a pas de deux with Julia Sedova, "Jeux des Papilions."

"It  had been mounted for them by Kulichevskaya, to music by Waldteufel, during the season at Krasnoe Selo, and  was now inserted into the last act of La Source."

"For us students there was not a single dancing step; all we had to do was come onstage each carrying a stool. We placed the stools behind the corps de ballet and then, standing on the stools, would assume poses to compliment theirs."

"During rehearsals of the last act, when the whole company was onstage, Nijinsky and Sedova would only mark their pas de deux. As I watched I became worried about this debut for Vaslav' I did not think it would be a very promising beginning for his career as an Artist of the would be a vary promising beginning for his career as an Artist of the would be a very promising beginning for his career as an Artist of the Imperial Theatre."

"Sedova as she stood on toe, was half a head taller that Vaslav. She also seemed to broad in the shoulders beside him. I was concerned: How would they look together when Vaslav lifted her?"

"To my surprise when they came out for the performance they looked good together. When Sedova jumped for Vaslav to catch her in a "fish" pose, he caught her low and effortlessly."

"Then I understood how well Sedova and Nijinsky had become adjusted to each other during the season at Krasnoe Selo."

"Later Vaslav told me that he found Sedova lighter to life than many other smaller dancers who did not use their bodies correctly, in harmony with the beat of the music. Some dancers "sat" during lifts, and that made them heavier for their partners, but Sedova was as straight as an arrow  and resounded like the string of a violin."

"Though Vaslav had a great personal success, he would have preferred to have made his debut in a more advantageous pas de deux.

"Still the first month of his work at the Maryinsky was most auspicious. He was soon chosen to dance two other pas de deux. "

"In mid- September he danced with Lydia Kyasht, "Andante Religioso," to music by Francois Tome, mounted by Nikolai Legat and inserted in the ballet Paquita. A week later his partner  was Elena Smirnova, with whom he had danced so well in the Student Performances of 1905 and 1906; they danced a pas de deux in the last act of La Fille Mal Gardee." -Quote from Bronislava Nijinska on her brother her brother Vaslav Nijinsky partnering at the Maryinsky.

I find it interesting here is another example where Bronislava Nijinska worries about her brother's dance partner's height differences. She seems very worried of the image of her brother on the stage being damaged but she learns yet again that she misunderstood the situation when she sees for herself how her brother and Sedova look on stage together dancing which makes her doubts disappear and I think it also helped Nijinsky himself explaining to her the positives of dancing with Sedova because Sedova knew how to use her body during the lifts which made it much better for Nijinsky for the pas de deux.