Critics & The Ballerinas Love Nijinsky

Photo Credit: Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina in the "Giselle",  Ballet, Paris, 1911

 

 Vaslav Nijinsky the young artist of the Maryinsky Theatre was in demand the critics raved about Nijinsky and the most famous ballerinas wanted to dance with him. Bronislava Nijinska recounts her brother's popularity in her own words.

 

"In October he danced a peasant dance with Tamara Karsavina, a semiclassical pas de deux from Act I of Giselle.  As soon as he came out onto the stage for his variation the audience applauded him. Afterwards he told me that though he was happy and proud to be dancing with soloists like Sedova, Kyaksht, and Karsavina, he was dreaming of the day when he would dance a grand pas de deux in Giselle, Swan Lake, or Sleeping Beauty."

"But despite his youth, more and more ballerinas and premieres danseuses wanted to dance with Vaslav. Anna Pavlova often invited him to join her practice sessions with Maestro Cecchetti. She had an apartment, not far from us and on the same street, Torgovaya Ulitza, and Cecchetti used to go there every day to work with her. Vaslav was thrilled to have the opportunity to study with Maestro Cecchetti and go over many pas de deux with Pavlova under his careful direction."

"The young Nijinsky was soon accorded a special distinction in the Maryinsky Theatre. It was announced that on the same night, Wednesday, October 16, he would dance the leading roles in two ballets: La Fille Mal Gardee and The Prince Gardener."

"The Prince Gardener, choreographed by Kulichevskaya, had been first been presented for the Student Performances of 1906 and was to be danced now by the same performers, all young Artists of the Imperial Theatres who had graduated in 1906 and 1907. So Vaslav would again be dancing with Ludmila Schollar."

"He was immeasurably proud that on the same evening he was to dance the leading role of Colin in La Fille Mal Gardee with prima ballerina assoluta, Mathilda Felixovna Kshessinska."

"I had seen La Fille Mal Gardee, actually taken part in it, many times. One occasion in particular remained in my memory; the performance of February 4, 1904 announced as the Farewell Performance of the Prima Ballerina Assoluta, Mathilda Kshessinska. She had chosen for that "farewell performance" the same ballet in which she had made her stage debut at the Maryinsky Theatre in 1890."

"I will never forget that night. The atmosphere was electric in the Theatre, and backstage emotions were high among the artists, the students, even the stagehands, Kshessinska's  decision to leave the Imperial Theatre had been a complete surprise."

"Ever since 1895 when she had become a ballerina, she had reigned supreme at the Maryinsky. Kshessinska had wielded extraordinary influence and power owing to her proximity to the Imperial Court and Tsar Nicholas II."

"Following her "farewell performance," Kshessinska had returned the next season to dance at the Maryinsky by "popular demand," but she had refused to sign a long-term binding contract. She preferred to return to independent status of a guest artist and to dance only occasionally in the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg and Moscow. She would then be free to accept various engagements abroad as she chose."

"She had regretted very much that in 1903, when she had danced in Vienna, she had not been able to accept the invitation of an American impresario to dance in the United States of America."

"I would have liked to have seen the performance in 1907 when Vaslav was to dance with Kshessinska in La Fille Mal Gardee, but none of the graduating students were used in the performance."

"Mama always collected the newspaper reviews that mentioned Vaslav and then when I came home on Saturdays I would read them all before pasting them in a special album. It had a green velvet cover and Vaslav's own monogram in silver, a gift from his first admirer, Elena Sechenova -Ivanova, after she saw Vaslav for the first time, in the Students Performance of 1905."

"In the St. Petersburg Gazette, the critic Valerian Svetlov, who had also written the libretto of The Prince Gardener, wrote about Vaslav,

 

"... his elevation, ballon and brilliancy were astonishing, as for instance in amazing entrechat-buit in the variation of the pas de deux in The Prince Gardener. He also proved himself to be a gifted mime in the role of Colin and if there were some flaws in the interpretation of the role it was only due to shyness."

"Another critic declared,

"The hero of this performance is the young dancer Nijinsky... our ballerinas must not take offence if his success over shadows them."

"Following La Fille Mal Gardee, Kshessinska asked Vaslav to dance with her in the Divertissement for the Farewell Benefit Performance for Maria Petipa, to be given in  the Maryinsky Theatre on November 11, 1907. The program was also to include the ballet Raymonda, and Vaslav was excited to be chose to dance in the "Pas Classique Hongrois." For this performance the dancers would be Nikolai Legat, Mikhail Fokine, Mikhail Oboukhov- all premiers danseurs- and Vaslav Nijinsky, the young artist and newly graduated student."- Quote from Bronislava Nijinska on her brother Vaslav Nijinsky's popularity with the critics and the ballerinas.

 

It's pretty clear to see that everyone is now seeing Nijinsky's talent and want to be part of it or experience it too which is why I think so many wonderful opportunities came to him he was now being seen as a dancer something he always wanted when he was a student. To receive such praise from not only the critics but the ballerinas had to be a historical moment for him. 

I noticed how detailed Bronislava Nijinska is about Kshessinska you really can tell Njijinska was curious about her since she knew so many details and her wanting to dance with Nijinsky that had to cause Nijinska to hold her in some high regard.

When Nijinska talks about how her mother saved all the articles on Nijinsky you can tell all the sacrifices her mother gave came to fruition when she sees her son is dancing on stage at the Maryinsky and people are praising him. You can tell how proud she is of her son. 

Bronislava Nijinska's describing how she kept a special album for her brother's articles just shows how proud she is  and also how he's her role model as a dancer.

This had to have been a glorifying moment I'm sure for Nijinsky that the student who had a hard time in school and was ridiculed on a daily basis now is the talk of the town and people who he has only seen on stage want to know Vaslav Nijinsky the young dancer of the Maryinsky Theatre.