Nijinsky – Life and work

On 24th of January, 2025, John Neumeier‘s masterpiece Nijinsky will celebrate its premiere at the Semperoper Ballett. To mark the 200th anniversary of the company, this legendary dance figure returns to Dresden, where Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950) went on tour with the Ballets Russes in 1912/13.

As a tribute to the dance icon, we are presenting milestones of Nijinsky‘s life and work – a complex artist who continues to influence and inspire dancers worldwide until today.

Nijinsky in *Danse siamoise* from *the Orientales* © John Neumeier Stiftung

„Nijinsky’s life can be simply summarized: ten years of growing, ten years of learning, ten years of dancing, thirty years in eclipse.”

Richard Buckle

*Playbill from the first guest performance of the Ballets Russes on 13 February 1912 in Dresden © Historisches Archiv der Sächsischen Staatstheater Dresden*

In 1909, the Ballets Russes, founded by impresario Serge Diaghilev and the two costume- and stage designers Alexandre Benois and Léon Bakst, performed in Paris for the very first time and from there conquered the western world.

On 13th February in 1912, the ballet ensemble led by star dancer Vaslav Nijinsky made its first guest appearance in Dresden – further performances at the Semperoper were to follow – they presented such successful works as Le Pavillon d'Armide, Carnaval and Scheherazade, choreographed by Michel Fokine. John Neumeier will bring reminiscences of these works to the stage of the Semperoper in his masterwork Nijinsky.

Wherever they performed, the Ballets Russes caused a sensation with their sensually expressive dance creations – the world had never seen anything like this!

As children of professional dancers, Vaslav Nijinsky and his siblings were born with a talent for dance: Vaslav and his elder brother Stanislav (1886-1917) performed in an opera production in Odessa as children, Bronislava Nijinska (1891-1972) later became a member of the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg as well as a dancer and choreographer for the Ballets Russes.

Both his mother Eleonora and brother Stanislav as well as Vaslav himself suffered from severe depression and mental disorders, Stanislav was even committed to a psychiatric clinic from 1902. Vaslav Nijinsky, who had performed in public for the last time in a hotel in St. Moritz in 1919, died in 1950 after 30 years of illness.

John Neumeier‘s ballet Nijinsky begins with this last legendary performance in Switzerland and takes the audience on a touching and disturbing journey through the life of the dancer of the century.

Vaslav Nijinsky not only danced with the two star ballerinas Tamara Karsavina and Anna Pavlova with the Ballets Russes and the Mariinsky Ballet, but also trained with them at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School.

In 1907, Nijinsky completed his training with the role of the Slave in Michel Fokine‘s ‘Pavillon d'Armide’, in which he danced alongside Anna Pavlova. Vaslav made his first guest appearance at the Dresden Semperoper with the same ballet on 13 January 1912 – here partnering Tamara Karsavina.