Your fave is problematic: Vaslav Nijinsky, A Crash Course
mother was depressed, father fell in love with another woman
older brother, Stanislav, fell from a window and suffered brain damage; was later labelled as insane and admitted in an asylum
wasn’t expelled from the Imperial Ballet School because his dancing ability made up for his academics and also explained why he was away from the classroom
did well in subjects that interested him anyhow (*cough* dance *cough*)
had jealous classmates who sabotaged him which gave him a concussion and a coma which lasted for 4 days
h o l y s h i t
his boisterous behavior was what expelled him from school
was later readmitted into his position after, to quote, “a sound beating”
was 14 when he was given his first principal role by Petipa himself in “La Romance d'un Bouton de rose et d'un Papillon” which was never performed
was caught in the Bloody Sunday Massacre and got a head wound
became more reserved as he grew older to the point where other people found him dull and didn’t want to work with him
was offered a position in the Imperial Russian Ballet when he was still an undergrad but still chose to finish his studies
graduated second in his class anyway, with top marks in dancing, art and music
immediately admitted into the company as a coryphee, not even in the corps de ballet
he literally flew in his career good lord they’d never stop making the man jump
met Sergei Diaghilev, a Russian art critic an patron who later on became his manager and lover , and joined his company, Ballet Russes
Diaghilev’s sponsor died which led to the decline of finances in his company
started to choreograph his own pieces which caused an uproar in the classical ballet world
HE FUCKIN CHOREOGRAPHED MASTURBATION FFS
one of his pieces was abt a homosexual encounter between 3 men
nijinsky is the guy responsible for the “Rite of Spring”
yknow this piece
say what you want abt the guy but apparently he wasn’t a very good teacher, expecting everyone can dance the way he can
used his sister as a guinea pig for his new choreography
Mikhail Fokine, as in the guy who choreographed “The Dying Swan”, called him ‘incompetent’ and was only in the company bc he was Diaghilev’s lover #yikes
basically, he started being sort of a diva
was forced to tour in South America alone without his support system (sister, manager, and the fact that his father had recently died)
met a lady named Romola de Pulszky while at South America and was under the impression that she was a prima ballerina but later ignored her when he realized that she wasn’t
this lady became so obsessed with him that she broke off her engagement with someone, started paying Diaghilev and sponsoring his company, taking ballet classes with Enrico Cechetti just to be close to Nijinsky, and booking train compartments and hotel rooms near him #doubleyikes
she was creepy man she was befriending anyone who knew him
idk how man but Nijinsky proposed to her ???
important and powerful political people where responsible for his marriage tbh like for the money, for the power, for the glory
Nijinsky tried to teach Romola ballet so that she could perform with him in his upcoming performances but she wasn’t interested which broke his heart
they didn’t share the same hotel rooms the whole season
Diaghilev was so upset, he fired Nijinsky from his company
great so now he’s unemployed
still, he tried getting his shit together and formed his own company with only 3 experienced dancers
3 EXPERIENCED DANCERS
Romola helped by negotiating and managing so at least that was helpful
became more nervous and distraught when opening night came and Diaghilev came to watch
had a breakdown on the third night and couldn’t perform
the show was cancelled and lost a lot of money
the breakdown affected his dancing
he was classified as an enemy of Russia during World War I and was under house arrest
Diaghilev spent 2 years trying to get him back to Russia under the condition that he would work for the Ballet Russes again
SO MANY POWERFUL PEOPLE INTERCEDED FOR HIM THE FREAKING POPE OF THE TIME DID
he would have rages now and then during rehearsals #tripleyikes
he was 28 in his last public performance
he was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and his greatest fear was realized: he was admitted into an asylum
was in and out of the hospital and had long periods of silence
Romola stayed with him throughout all of this and even protected him during the war
died of a kidney failure and was buried in London
