Here’s the guy who was naked yesterday
Look at those eyes!
God almighty, what he must have been like onstage.
18 Responses to “Here’s the guy who was naked yesterday”
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silverside says:
Sometimes I play this game with friends. If you could jump into a time machine and attend a historic arts performance, what would it be? Kristin Flagstadt singing Isolde at the Met would be one choice. Or seeing Maria Callas in her prime. But seeing Nijinski dance would certainly be another.
July 11th, 2006 at 1:54 pm EST -
Infidel says:
Is there anything to be gleaned from how a straight guy loves their sister vs. how a gay guy loves his sister with an eye towards misogyne. The gay guy could blatently convey a distaste for the opposite sex, especially where romance is concerned and not as often be in a position to be accused of condescension. Like an atheist could never be accused of being blasphemous since whatever he or she did couldn’t possibly be meant to offend something they think doesn’t even exist. Perhaps they are trying to offend somebody who does but that isn’t blasphemous since it offends a person and not God.
Vaslav Nijinski offends me with his beauty, I would have loved to see him dance. I googled him and went through about 100 pages of images of the 50million hits, and every page brought exitement and longing, respect and wonder. Then I had to check out his bio, his sister, his lover, the ages of his changes. -
Violet says:
Nijinsky was bisexual.
If you could jump into a time machine and attend a historic arts performance, what would it be?
That’s a killer. I too would love to see Nijinsky dance, but which role? Faune? Spectre? Petrouchka? How could I choose?
But then I’d also want to see the greatest opening night in history: The Rite of Spring, which Nijinsky of course choreographed but did not dance in himself.
That’s a tough game, silverside!
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ginmar says:
But you’re forgetting Apres Midi d’un Faune.
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Violet says:
I said Faune — the three roles of his that I believe I would most like to see are Faune, Spectre, and Petrouchka. But also the Golden Slave from Schéhérazade. Oh, everything he danced, really!
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ginmar says:
The caffeine isn’t working! Argh!I wonder if I can give myself an IV?
He started out at the Maryinksy; can you imagine him in the Petipa classics?
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Violet says:
Actually, one of my favorite pictures of Nijinsky is a close-up of him as Albrecht in Giselle:
He projected such innocence and idealism in that role. I’m endlessly fascinated by how his face and the attitude of his body were different in every role he danced. His plasticity as an actor was extraordinary.
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ginmar says:
God, I even know that photo, but now I can’t remember the name of the ballerina he danced with. Not Pavlova; Kchessinskaya was a bit earlier. Tatiana….ARGH!
He did dance with Pavlova; can you imagine?
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ginmar says:
Karsavina! Hah!
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Violet says:
He did dance with Pavlova; can you imagine?
Yes, and actually outshone her! Or at least it must have felt like that to her.
I just went and looked in a bio of Nijinsky for the details: in the Ballets Russes debut season of 1909, he and Pavlova were partnered in Les Sylphides and Le Pavillon d’Armide. Of course Pavlova was fabulous and a huge star, but it was Nijinsky’s leap in Le Pavillon d’Armide that literally stopped the show — the audience wouldn’t stop applauding — and his performance in Les Sylphides made him the idol of Paris. Instant superstardom. Must have driven Pavolva mad. I think she left after that season.
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ginmar says:
Pavlova was a very differnt type of dancer, too—she was incredibly light and lyrical, but she was not good at jumps and things of that nature. Nijinsky, however, was made of ballon that quality of hanging in air. “Oh, you just go up in the air and stay there a while,” is how he explained it.
Oh, and have you seen the movie?
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Violet says:
heh — just realized my comment about Pavlova going “mad” was in weirdly poor taste considering who we’re talking about. Bless his heart, the poor man.
No, I’ve never seen any film about Nijinsky. I’m guessing you mean the 1980 version with Alan Bates as Diaghilev, which I’ve heard of but never seen. There’s also a more recent film, not a bio but a very expressionistic thing with Derek Jacobi reading from the diaries Nijinsky kept as he was spiraling into psychosis. I haven’t seen that, either. It’s often said that The Red Shoes was really inspired by the Diaghilev-Nijinsky story, with of course Nijinsky changed into a female ballerina to make it PC.
What fun to talk about ballet! Ginmar, what an interesting person you are: a ballerina who became a soldier.
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ginmar says:
I’ve actually seen it. I believe it’s going to be released soon on DVD.
I remember this description of Nijinsky: Ten years growing, ten years training, ten years dancing, thirty years of madness. Sixty years in all. Poor Nijinsky.
Yeah, I have a weird background. How nice of you to call it interesting, though! I’d call it eccentric. My drill sgt. used to call me Private Gumby when we’d stretch out for PT. I think it gives you a wider perspective. I spent a fair amount of time in Moscow, for example, studying Russian and living with a friend, and I’ve been all over. Russians are very nice: so are the French.
Oh, topic? God, I love ballet geekery. Hvae you looked up some of the wonderful books about it? I love the old style lithographs in the comprehensive histories. I love the scandalous history. Ballet is always Russian to me; I think that might have been on reason I elected to study Russian for the military.
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richard cherry says:
I reckon dancing is a bit puffy, like.
(sorry, you have to understand Geordies to get that bit.)
Hello!!! – the world is in flames and you bloody balletbags (like godbags but with the …oh I see you’d already worked it out, then) are talking about men in skirts – I think that’s what it’s all about. Anybody happen to see what’s going on in Gaza. Errr India… whatever. Ahhh no; too busy fiddling with your bits at the thought of old Najinsky being a firebird or some such. Now why exactly isn’t the left doing better in world politics??? I’m off to read the wingnuts; at least they keep their eye on the ball (as opposed to some russky’s tackle). -
Violet says:
Hello!!! – the world is in flames and you bloody balletbags are talking about men in skirts -
But that’s just it — sometimes the news is so bad you have to re-focus on some Russky’s tackle for awhile just to get your groove back.
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Violet says:
Ginmar, what I would dearly love to see is the BBC production from earlier this year, “Riot at the Rite.” It’s a docudrama re-creating the opening night of Sacre, and I’ve seen bits of it on YouTube. They used the Millicent Hodson re-creation of Nijinsky’s original choreography, re-created the original costumes and sets, etc., and it looks and sounds fantastic. Don’t know about the drama surrounding the ballet — they appear to have taken some liberties to dramatize the Nijinsky-Diaghilev thing — but the lion’s share of the program is the performance of Sacre. I wish the BBC would put it on DVD.
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ginmar says:
Yeah, me too. I just wish they’d do more ballet DVDs period.
I got to see the Bolshoi at their home theatre one year, and then I got to see this absolutely crappy company at a ghastly Kremlin theatre two nights later. The Bolshoi had just been restored, and when the manager found out a bunch of Americans were seeing the ballet for the first time (well, from the front, for me) they moved us to one of the boxes. It’s quite the experience. Plus Russian champagne.
Oh, and Richard, male ballet dancers do not wear skirts. They wear tights. Let me tell you, there is a difference.
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richard cherry says:
au contraire, ginmar – adventures in motion pictures, matthew bourne ring a bell? ah ha the philistine bites back!!!
wait a moment, I have been drawn into a ballet debate argh vurse you subtle bloody liberals.
ISRAEL IS INVADING LEBANON
no the skirts the tights it’s all too much; someone send me a ballet dvd, I’m off to Sadlers Wells.
