The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-06
NU|NSKI, WORLDS GREATEST DANGER,
 HON0RED BY GEAR
His Art Developed Through Long Years of Arduous
 Work at Imperial School

scheduled to appear with the ballet last year on it's limited tour, but be- cause of his internment in Austria, where he was held a prisoner of war until United States Ambassador Pen field secured his release, he was una. ble to join the troupe until the last few weeks of it's closing engagement at the Metropolitan Opera House. This year he will accompany the ballet on it's tour to 50 cities throughout America in the dual capacity of pre- mier dancer and artistic director.
 Nijinsky was born in 1889 in Kiev, Russia. Both his father and mother had been members of the Imperial Ballet School in Warsaw and, as is the custom in Russia, his parents de- cided that their children would also be dancers. So, at the age of 10, he entered the Imperial school which by that time had been transferred to Petrograd. He remained there fore nine years, although he obtained a diploma after seven years training. He stayed the full length of time nine years is prescribed by the regu- lations-in order to graduate in the usual way. As he says, he did not wish to be considered a child prodigy, believing that artistic maturity comes only with years.
 At the age of Il, while at school, he made his first public appearance in Petrograd at the Royal theatre on the occasion of the Czarinas birth day. He was called to the box of Her Majesty, and she presented him with package of bonbons. During his subsequent years at school he several times danced before the court and receivd gifts efrom the Car. His first
 public appearance in the regular theatre was in the opera "Don JPuan," by Mozart, a spectacle which is usually omitted in other countries. Later he joined the Diaghileff Ballet Russee and appeared in all the prin- cipa1 capitals of Europe.
 Nijinsky is a slight chap, about five feet, eight inches tall, slim and angu- lar. He has Slavic nose with small, black, almond shaped eyes. So much so, that a druggist approached him with offers of putting Nijinsky AL mond Cream on the market. Needless to say this suggestion was received with coldness by the dancer, who is much averse to any sort but the most dignified publicity. Nijinsky has large mouth, narrow chin, and hands big enough for working man. His feet are plenty large enough to sup port considerably more bulk than the weighing machine would register as belonging to him. He wears three rings and a bar pin to keep his neck tie in place and prefers soft collars. There is nothing notable about his style, but he owns an expensive fur lined coat and a more expensive tour ing car. Niiinsky talks mostly Polish, gossips in Russia and waXes eloquent in French. His English is still very Russian and he needs an interpreter.
 Nijinsky gets up at z o'clock in the morning, and eats a very light break fast. Then he takes a little spin in his car, which he drives himself. He rehearses for three hours with the pianist, practicing muscle scales. The reason he eats an enormous luncheon, he says, is because his daily exercise consumes a vast amount of energy and he must eat whole lot to renew it. He never smokes, bue he is fond of wine. He says that he can drink
  spiration due to much exercise works it off Tn Paris and London, Nijinsky had to hire four secretaries to answer his mail and acknowledge the flowers and gifts he received from admiring women. In New York last year the critics were unanimous in declaring his art new and wonderful thing, but he received very few bouquets and practically no mash notes. This is because pictures had been printed in the papers of Madame Nijinsky and the two-year- daughter Kyra. Nijinsky is strictly home man and model husband. He rarely has time for anything but his art and his home, and is never seen in public. Because of his inauspicious appearance he was hardly recognized by a soul during his entire stay in New York.
 Just as the war broke out two years ago, Madame and M. Nijinsky were in Vienna. It was at this time that Kyra was born and the Nijinskys were una- ble to get to their country. They were interned and forced to live at the home of Madame Nijinsky's mother. At that time Nijinsky was working on a scheme for permanently recording dance steps, corresponding to the notes and scale in music. He devised a new set of symbols and transcribed several of his inprovisations in this new sign language. Presently the work was discovered by his mother in-law, and inasmuch as she could not decipher 1t, she decided that he was spy. His explanations were fu- tile. Thereafter he was subjected to every privation and humiliation, forced to accept insult and abuse. AL though Nijinsky receives $1,100 for each performance and is guaranteed four performances a week, he was unable to get 50 marks a week to pay for nurse for his baby. Finally he could stand it no longer, andw ith wife and child accepted aid from the Spanish Embassy. Subsequently Am bassador Penfield secured his release, after overtures and guarantees had been made by the directors of the Opera company.
 Nijinsky is very much wrapped up in his art. He never tires in empha- sizing that his conception of a part is inspired, and that 1t is a spiritual conception founded on mental inn pression.
 "Every movement which I make